Kenyas government has missed its best chance to stamp out rampant corruption and faces a tough task to regain credibility, Transparency International (TI) said on Thursday, International Anti-Corruption Day.
More than half of Kenyans do not think graft is decreasing, TI Kenya executive director Gladwell Otieno said.
– The dismal performance of the political clas over the past two years has resulted in a highly negative perception by Kenyans, Otieno said at a news conference launching TIs Global Corruption Barometer survey.
She said the government, mired in political infighting, has lost momentum and credibility, two years after President Mwai Kibaki was elected vowing to cut out corruption that thrived during former president Daniel arap Mois 24-year rule.
The government can only regain credibility “slowly and painstakingly” and by sacrificing top graft suspects, she added.
Not enough is being done to combat the perception that the perpetrators will escape prosecution, Otieno said.
– Reports of grand corruption, many emanating from some of the highest offices in the land, continue to dominate the media with very little evidence of concerted action on the part of the government, she said adding:.
– Kenyans still want to see such scandals thoroughly clarified and the culprits punished. At the moment there is the feeling they can act with impunity (straffrihed).
International donors are not happy. Some have withheld budgetary support saying Kenyas government has not shown a strong enough commitment to fight graft.
– Levels of optimism by no means match the dizzying heights they had attained in early 2003 when Kenya was ranked as the most optimistic country in the world, Otieno said.
Allegations of a series of flawed deals on Kibakis watch have dented public confidence in his “zero tolerance” drive.
– What the report drives home is the necessity to get the anti-corruption agenda back on track, Otieno said adding: – That is going to be a lot tougher now than it was two years ago.
The government says it is investigating the deals, including one to supply terror-proof passports and another for a police forensics laboratory, together worth millions of dollars.
Kenyans were more concerned about grand corruption at highest levels than petty graft encountered in their day-to-day lives, the TI/Gallup survey conducted between June and September 2004 showed. These results matched global findings.
More than three Kenyans in 10 reported being bribed or paying a bribe in the previous 12 months, and although 41 percent thought corruption in Kenya was decreasing, 55 percent said it going up or staying the same.
Kenyas police force topped the countrys “list of shame”, scoring 4,3 on a one to five scale where five was classed as “extremely corrupt”. Political parties were second, rated at 4,1.
Kilde: Daily News, Durban
