Muranga ranks top in EACC corruption index

NAIROBI, KENYA: Muranga has been ranked most corrupt county in a survey released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

Most people responded in the affirmative on demand for bribes followed by Trans Nzoia (84 percent), Mandera (79.4 percent), Kirinyaga (78.9 percent), Marsabit (78.2 percent), Tharaka Nithi, Meru, Laikipia, Machakos, Nyandarua, Kilifi, Migori, Kisii, Elgeyo Marakwet, Kwale and Wajir.

Lamu County ranked least corrupt where respondents were reluctant to pay bribes followed by those in TaitaTaveta (8.3 percent), Tana River (12.10 percent) and Kericho.

A sample of 6,000 households was estimated for the survey. This sample was distributed to the counties and rural and urban strata using the square root allocation method.

Over 87 percent of the respondents indicated that corruption permeates all sectors of the Kenyan economy and that it is completely widespread today.

Comparatively, 63.4 percent of the respondents think that corruption has been increasing in Kenya in the past one year which is 13 percentage points higher than in the 2015 Survey.

Over 45 percent of the respondents expect the level of corruption in the country to be high in the next one year while 15.3 percent expect low levels of corruption, the report says.

Delays in service delivery, bribery, conflict of interest, discrimination and criminal activities such as fraud, theft and embezzlement were rated as the most common forms of unethical conduct in the country.