By Joe Kiarie

Voters believe Cabinet ministers and Members of Parliament are the most corrupt. This is the finding in a national corruption perception report released as Kenyans debate integrity criteria for clearing aspirants for elective offices.

According to the survey by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), 45.3 per cent of Kenyans believe that most MPs are involved in graft, with a further 12.5 per cent saying all legislators are corrupt. Forty per cent of Kenyans say most Cabinet ministers and their assistants are corrupt, with another 8.6 per cent insisting none of them is clean.

The May 2012 report, which was released on Friday, singles out Permanent Secretaries (36.1 per cent); civic (33.4 per cent), and religious leaders (30 per cent) as among others believed to widely engage in corrupt deals.

The report comes at a time some MPs have been accused of pocketing millions of shillings to either support or shoot down crucial Motions in Parliament. Gichugu MP Martha Karua recently described Parliament as “the greatest auction house in Africa”.

The last one-year has also seen a number of ministers, assistant ministers, and MPs arraigned in court to answer charges of corruption, misappropriation of funds, and abuse of office among other crimes.

Those in court

Those who have been charged with such offences in 2012 include Eldoret South MP Peris Simam, Msambweni MP Omar Zonga, and Public Health Assistant Minister James Gesami.

Overall, the EACC survey conducted last year, shows that 61.8 per cent of Kenyans believe that corruption is very high in the country, marking an 11.9 per cent rise in comparison to the proportion of the public who held a similar opinion in 2010. 

“Similarly, 54.5 per cent of the respondents indicate that the level of corruption is increasing in the last one year compared to 39.2 per cent of the population in 2010,” the report notes.

Grippingly, a staggering 73.2 per cent of the respondents cited personal experience as the main factor shaping their rating of corruption in the country, with the rest citing discussions and media reports. 

Among Government ministries, 58.6 per cent of Kenyans deem the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security as the most corrupt. It is followed by the Ministry of Lands (19.3 per cent), Ministry of Education (19.1 per cent), Ministry of Immigration and Registration of Persons (17 per cent), Ministry of Public Health (14.6 per cent, and the Ministry of Local Government (11.4 per cent).

Among parastatals and Government departments, majority of the respondents (42.3 per cent) identified the Regular Police as the most corrupt.

Others ranked highly included the National Registration Bureau (18.9 per cent), Provincial Administration (17.5 per cent), Traffic Police (17.1 per cent), Government hospitals (15.3 per cent), Local Authorities (9.5 per cent, and Land offices at 8.4 per cent.

Apparently, all these were equally identified as teeming with corruption during the 2010 corruption perception survey.

But while respondents indicated that corruption was on the rise in many institutions, it was said to be on a decline in Kenya Power, Government hospitals, schools, roads, and public works departments.

Among professionals

When it comes to corruption among professionals, the report shows that lawyers (34.2 per cent) and land surveyors (32.5) are perceived to be the professionals mostly involved in corruption. Journalists, bankers, economists, doctors and nurses are on the other hand believed to be least involved in sleaze.

Interestingly, majority of the respondents (38.3 per cent) admitted that they would engage in corruption while seeking employment, while 30.9 per cent would do so to obtain Government services. Another 26.4 per cent revealed they would bribe to avoid following official procedures, while 24.7 per cent would engage in corruption when a police officer arrest them.

When asked about Government officers who sought bribes most in return for services over a period of one year, 34.6 per cent of those interviewed singled out police officers followed by immigration officers (14.5 per cent), provincial administrators (11.8 per cent), judges/magistrates (11 per cent), council askaris (9.3 per cent), health practitioners (7.1 per cent), and land registrars (1.9 per cent).

As part of its recommendations on curbing graft, EACC calls for the speeding up of efforts to adopt a comprehensive anti-corruption policy aimed at strengthening the implementation of anti-graft measures.

Repressive measures

“The programme should build on an analysis of the patterns of corruption. It should propose focused anti-corruption measures or plans for selected institutions and have a balanced approach of repressive and preventive measures.

The programme should also encompass effective monitoring and reporting mechanisms,” the report states.

It also urges enhanced participation of the general public, religious organisations, the private sector, and the media in the fight against corruption, among other recommendations.