Technology, collaboration key in graft fight, Oginde says

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Chairperson David Ogind. [File, Standard]

Corruption has grown more sophisticated with the rise of new technology, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Chairperson David Oginde has warned.

“It used to be that money was carried physically from wherever it was stolen, these days, it is at the click of a button sent across the world,” he said.

Oginde spoke at the 43rd Heads of the African Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (AAACA) summit, hosted by the EACC in Nairobi. The event also marked the launch of Africa's first Anti-Corruption Research Centre, which aims to strengthen the training of investigators, prosecutors, and other stakeholders.

The EACC Chair called on anti-corruption agencies to deepen regional cooperation and modernise their tools, saying the existing systems were ill-equipped to handle digital corruption and urged authorities to adopt blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

“We need to build robust, seamless frameworks for asset tracing, intelligence sharing, and mutual legal assistance; we must dry out the supply side of transnational bribery, ensuring that no corner of this continent can serve as a safe haven of stolen wealth.”

Ghost Workers

The EACC is also working with the Public Service Commission to root out ghost workers in State agencies and counties and identify the loopholes that enable them.

EACC Chief Executive Mohamud Abdi said intra-African trade made it crucial that clean money circulate across the continent and called for streamlined mutual legal assistance among African nations to ensure accountability.

“We are here to build networks, work together, and come up with protocols that will be able to assist member countries,” said Abdi

President William Ruto's remarks were delivered by Attorney General Dorcas Oduor, who said Africa's growing opportunities, driven by technological innovation, were being undermined by corruption that diverts resources meant for development. "Corruption today is no longer localised or isolated. It has become increasingly sophisticated, technologically enabled, and transnational in character.”

He added that corruption intersects with money laundering, cybercrime, trafficking, fraud, and illicit financial flows. "These threats do not respect national borders consequently, our response cannot be confined within them."

African countries lose billions annually to corruption, tax evasion, and related financial leakages, Ruto said, resources that should be funding schools, roads, hospitals, water systems, energy infrastructure, and youth opportunities.

The President held that his administration was committed to reviewing Kenya's legal and policy frameworks and that technology was a critical weapon in the fight against graft. But prevention mattered equally, he added, including electing and appointing leaders of integrity who are committed to the rule of law.