New tough hurdle in next year’s poll

By DAVID OHITO

Presidential, Senatorial and Parliamentary aspirants as well those seeking County Assembly and Governor posts will not be cleared to run unless vetted and issued with a certificate of compliance.

And for the first time in Kenya, unless vetoed or amended by Parliament, the lifestyle and conspicuous consumption of corrupt public and elected officials will not be exempt from the prying eyes of anti-graft police.

Presidential and Parliamentary aspirants as well those seeking County Assembly, Senator and Governor will have to be vetted and issued with certificate of compliance in order to seek election. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

The Bill, which is now headed to Cabinet after scrutiny by Commission for Implementation of the Constitution (CIC), introduces a raft of anti-graft measures and sets out punitive action against the kingpins of corruption, who are Kenya’s biggest headache.

They include: raising fines for economic crimes to Sh10 million or a 20-year jail sentence; freezing of assets believed to be proceeds of corruption; outlawing and monitoring of public officers with foreign accounts; turning the heat on corrupt commercial organisations; bringing the private sector into the radar of anti-graft body; and intercepting or tapping communication of persons under investigation for graft. The latter will, however, have to be done within limits set out by the Constitution.

The new body, the draft Bill says, will investigate all those seeking elective positions and appointments to public office, in pursuit of compliance to the new high ethical and moral standards set out in the Constitution.

This means all those public officers, professionals and businesspeople with a questionable past, now aspiring for these leadership positions in the hope it will place them in strategic positions on the public gravy train — from where they will be able to enrich themselves through corruption — will have to think again.

Clean record

This is because the draft Bill on a new anti-graft body to take over from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission is about to get the powers to enforce Chapter Six of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity.

This chapter demands that public officials have a clean record, clear conscience, honourable and dignified past, are persons of integrity and high moral standards, and are accountable to the public for all their actions and decisions. Chapter Six vests in the State officer, "responsibility to serve the people, rather than power to rule them."

All employees of KACC, according to the Constitution, automatically transit into the new body, Independent Ethics and Anti-Corruption (IEACC) Commission.

"The law transitions the entire staff of KACC, including the Director and Deputy Directors and it shall be the legal successor of the KACC. The work of the KACC has also been safeguarded so the cases that are ongoing shall proceed without interruption,’’ CIC announced in a notice on its website.

In so far as State officials are concerned, IEACC has its job cut out; it must "develop and promote standards and best practices in integrity and anti-corruption", and "develop a code of conduct and ethics."

The new Bill also seeks to empower the new ethical and moral standards enforcement agency with the powers to, "audit, verify and inquire into any declarations of income, assets and liabilities required to be submitted by public officers under any law."

This means public officers who cheat about the vastness of their financial and property empires in wealth declaration forms, as a strategy to conceal their corruption footprints, may soon be in a rude shock.

According to the Bill that not only renames KACC, but also enhances its powers, it may no longer be possible to ride to Parliament or public office on the wings of ill-gotten wealth and questionable moral standards.

However, a lot depends on what amendments Parliament may decide to effect when the Bill is finally taken before the House for approval, before it goes to the President for assent.

IEACC takes up from KACC, and for a start, has prosecutorial powers, which means the blame-game between KACC and Attorney General’s office over graft cases will be history.

"Subject to the Constitution, the Commission may, in undertaking investigations, intercept or tap communication," reads one of the IEACC, signaling the drafters’ intent to make the world too small for the corrupt.

The draft Bill seeks to protect public interest, in so far as illegally public property is concerned, by allowing IEACC to put a caveat or enforce a freeze on assets it believes stolen from the public until its court case is over.

This means persons suspected of benefitting from corruption won’t be in a position to fight off investigation and possible prosecution using the profits they make from the same entities, businesses or properties they are accused of stealing from the public.

Apart from giving IEACC powers to take over wealth suspected to be proceeds of corruption, the proposed Bill also seeks to criminalise canvassing for State contracts, which is almost a daily occurrence in State offices, especially those that deal with procurement and supplies, consultancies and construction.

It also allows IEACC to intercept or tap communication during investigations, and when handling complex issues, as well as to subject complex evidence to forensic experts.

There are also strong proposals for the protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers.

Investigation

The Bill also proposes several amendments to the Kenya Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act.

Public officers will also be required to declare personal interests that may conflict with their public duties. They must also declare how they got their wealth. Graft suspects will be barred from travelling abroad and their passports seized, until their court cases are completed.

IEACC may also make an application to court requiring a person suspected of corrupt or unethical conduct and under investigation to give a written statement, enumerating his or her property and the times at which it was acquired.

Already, the draft Devolved Government Bill has proposed that politicians seeking positions in the counties must be cleared by the reformed ethics commission, and must arm themselves with a certificate of compliance.

"The law shall apply to state officers, public officers and the private sector," ran CIC statement.

"The Bill was released to the office of the Attorney General Amos Wako for onward transmission to Cabinet before it is tabled before Parliament," CIC announced.

Though IEACC has powers to prosecute, some politicians have been unhappy with this discretion that KACC lacked. The final draft was reviewed by CIC, working closely with Ministry of Justice.

The draft Bill says public officials who receive, directly or indirectly, any commission, gift, share percentage, or kickbacks, in connection with any government contract or project face prosecution and even jail.

Public officers will be required to jealously guard against fraudulent conveyance or disposal of assets belonging to the State.

The eyes of Kenyans will now be trained on President Kibaki, who will chair the Cabinet meeting and give assent to the Bill if passed by MPs, and House Speaker Kenneth Marende, who will preside over debate on the Bill by members.