Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore delivering a mentorship class to Dadaab and Kakuma based refugee students via video conferencing from his Nairobi office on 11th October 2016. PHOTO:WILBERFORCE OKWIRI

Safaricom says internal structures to fight corruption have cut down the vice by over 60 per cent.

The number of disgraced employees that have had to leave the company reduced from 58 in 2014 to 18 last year following the new measures.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said while this marks an improvement, Kenya's leading telco wants to tighten its controls further to eliminate cases of corruption altogether.

"The 18 people left for a number of reasons. We never get into the details because that is too personal, but what we would like to see are even more companies reporting on their high level numbers," said Mr Collymore during the launch of Safraicom's fifth Sustainability Report.

The mobile service provider conducted 20 audit reviews, conducted nine risk assessments twice, did 11 fraud reviews and investigated 11 cases of suspected fraud, including asset theft, fraudulent expense claims and corruption cases.

The company even instituted the controversial KPMG audit into alleged malpractices to influence acquisition of property at Garden City, which Mr Collymore said is still ongoing.

He said the company was one of the most open and self-assessing firms in the country with a view of cutting down the vice.

The giant telco said it is important to tackle corruption, noting it denies Kenyans opportunities.

Last year, Safaricom created Sh413 billion worth of value in earnings economic activities, social progress and environmental contributions.

This is despite Sh23.7 billion having been lost through corrupt activities in the Kenyan economy.

Safaricom calculated this figure by applying Transparency International's country corruption index for Kenya to the economic value added.

The firm reckons its biggest value came from the economic activities it generated, tax remittance and capital expenditure.

Mobile money service M-Pesa delivered value through socially enabling Kenyans receive and send money as well as raise funds and empower communities. "The social value created by M-Pesa excluding transactions fee stood at Sh184.5 billion," says the report.