Graft: Professionals back lifestyle audit

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) commissioner Rose Mghoi Macharia (left), with the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) Council chairperson, Irene Wanyoike during the press briefing. [Standard]

Kenyan professionals under the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa (APSEA) banner have today thrown their weight behind President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to have all public officers subjected to a lifestyle audit, saying that this will greatly contribute to the fight against corruption.

Speaking at the opening of a two-day National Professionals Convention at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi today, the APSEA Chairperson, Mrs. Irene Wanyoike, lauded the president’s directive adding that the initiative will significantly bring to an end the retrogressive looting of public coffers.

“His Excellency the President, Uhuru Kenyatta, recently declared that all public officers, starting with those in procurement departments, will undergo lifestyle audits in the continuing war against corruption. As APSEA, we fully support this initiative as we believe it is going to significantly bring to an end the retrogressive looting of public coffers that has continued to bedevil us as a country, but it will also expose those in public office, that are behind this vice,” she said.

The professionals also urged against politicizing the process arguing that attempts to do so will undermine the spirit and letter of the initiative and possibly derail the process. Commenting on this, the chairperson said that:

“It is our position that this process should not be politicized but should instead be supported by all well-meaning Kenyans who care for this country if we are to truly transform the affairs of the country moving forward.”

The professionals further reiterated that it is imperative that all state officers are vetted, adding that they will seek to play a more active role, as an association, in enhancing this.

“This convention will be looking at finding ways through which APSEA can play a more integral role in the vetting of professionals seeking to join the public service in a bid to continue with our mission to enhance integrity and ethics among all professionals,” said the chairperson.

The two-day convention brings together 300 professionals drawn from APSEA corporate members, Government Agencies, County Governments, Intergovernmental Agencies, Non-Government Organizations, the donor community, Private Sector and Religious Institutions.

Its main objective is to discuss how professionals in Kenya can take in the enhancement and enforcement of Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya on Leadership and Integrity while upholding the national values and principles as set out in Article 10 of the same constitution.

Remarking about the outcome of the convention, the APSEA Chairperson said:

“At the end of our deliberations, we intend to establish a Presidential and Governors Round Table for professionals in the country to actualize the outcomes of this conversation. Through this roundtable, it is our intention to lead professionals who fall within the key sector areas of the President’s Big Four Agenda to understand and implement Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya in a bid to enhance leadership and integrity.”

Other objectives of the convention will include discussing the role of professionals in curriculum formulation and development; the role of professionals in efficient management of public affairs and economic re-generation; and unmasking the nuances between professionalism vis-à-vis trade unionism in a bid to strengthen institutions going into the future