The new charman of Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Mr Okong’o Omogeni, has commended the Kenya Anticoruption Commission achievements in dealing with corruption. He said that in the former regime, former powerful ministers, permanent secretaries and even the Central Bank governors could not face the law.
Currently, there are a number of cases pending in courts against highly placed personalities among them permanent secretaries, a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor and deputy governors, a former security intelligence boss, directors and managers of government corporation among others. In addition, on 29 March 2007, five senior civil servants were arraigned in court by the KACC. They include former Central Bank of Kenya deputy governor Eliphaz Riungu, former Commissioner of mines Collins Owayo, former CBK chief dealers Michael Wanjihia and Job Kilach and former permanent secretary Finance Wilfred Koinange.
Coming from the head of the lawyers’ organisation in Kenya, the praise of KACC is really sweet music as the commission has been blamed for incompetence. Recognition of the work done by KACC boosts its image as it has been in the receiving end of criticism especially from opposition politicians and civil society for the most time of its short life. In fact, the LSK boss would like the powers of the KACC to be extended to include prosecution of cases it investigates in order to forestall conflict with the powers of the Attorney General who is responsible for prosecutions. In the past, the KACC has investigated cases but on recommendation to prosecute to the AG the latter has return the files to the KACC requiring further investigation.
In order for the KACC to effectively do its work, it requires independence from other organs of state including the AG office. KACC should be given a free hand to investigate and prosecute cases. The current delay in prosecution of corruption cases can rightly be attributed to the allocation of powers to investigate to KACC and the prosecution powers to the AG. In this blog we have clearly supported the work done by the KACC and called for non-interference by other governance organs especially politicians. We believe strong and effective institution cannot flourish if their work is muddled with.
Currently, there are a number of cases pending in courts against highly placed personalities among them permanent secretaries, a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor and deputy governors, a former security intelligence boss, directors and managers of government corporation among others. In addition, on 29 March 2007, five senior civil servants were arraigned in court by the KACC. They include former Central Bank of Kenya deputy governor Eliphaz Riungu, former Commissioner of mines Collins Owayo, former CBK chief dealers Michael Wanjihia and Job Kilach and former permanent secretary Finance Wilfred Koinange.
Coming from the head of the lawyers’ organisation in Kenya, the praise of KACC is really sweet music as the commission has been blamed for incompetence. Recognition of the work done by KACC boosts its image as it has been in the receiving end of criticism especially from opposition politicians and civil society for the most time of its short life. In fact, the LSK boss would like the powers of the KACC to be extended to include prosecution of cases it investigates in order to forestall conflict with the powers of the Attorney General who is responsible for prosecutions. In the past, the KACC has investigated cases but on recommendation to prosecute to the AG the latter has return the files to the KACC requiring further investigation.
In order for the KACC to effectively do its work, it requires independence from other organs of state including the AG office. KACC should be given a free hand to investigate and prosecute cases. The current delay in prosecution of corruption cases can rightly be attributed to the allocation of powers to investigate to KACC and the prosecution powers to the AG. In this blog we have clearly supported the work done by the KACC and called for non-interference by other governance organs especially politicians. We believe strong and effective institution cannot flourish if their work is muddled with.
2 comments:
Dear Mr. Karanja,
since I found no other way to get into contact with you I am using the comment-function to do that.
I currently study International Development Studies in Germany and work at a project and my MA-thesis which I will both write about Kenya. The topic of the project is coruption in developing countries and one chapter will deal with Kenya and what the government and donors (do not) do to tackle that problem. Since it is not that easy to get recent information about that from Germany and due to the fact that so far I havent been to Kenya respectively, I was really glad to find your blog!
Are there any other pages you could recommend to gather more information about corruption in Kenya besides pages like the one by KACC(e.g. by NGOs etc.)?
Thank you for your time!
Best wishes from Germany,
Nadine Stiller
Dear Nadine,
Sorry I had due to other commitments decided not to write often in my blog. In fact, I had not visited it for some time therefore I may not have seen your request in time. But if still you are interested and you have not taken a look to the following site, you will find a lot about corruption in Kenya here. http://www.marsgroupkenya.org/
I hope it will be of help to you. Best regards Stephen K Karanja
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