The World Bank Wednesday approved a 25 million US dollar (155 mio. DKR) loan for Kenyas fight against corruption, but urged authorities to discipline ministers linked to a graft scandal that widened this week, reports the World Bank press review.
Weekend revelations in the “Anglo Leasing” saga – in which contracts worth tens of millions of dollars went to a phantom firm – have angered Western lenders and Kenyans alike.
World Bank Country Director Colin Bruce said Kenyan authorities should invoke the disciplinary provisions of a code of conduct signed by cabinet ministers.
“I believe that this is an historic moment for the government to signal where it stands on the issue of political accountability, even when further evidence still needs to be gathered or examined,” Bruce said in a statement.
The Banks board said “corruption is still a serious impediment to shared growth and development,” but added that it was encouraged by the governments steps to tackle it.
The Bank said it would keep supporting Kenyas reforms toward good governance and accountability, and in other development areas where the government showed leadership. “This credit provides critical and timely support for the technical inputs required to strengthen Kenyas public financial management systems,” Bruce said.
The World Bank further said, that the latest incident implicating several cabinet ministers in a scam to defraud the government of hundreds of millions of dollars gave President Mwai Kibaki an opportunity to prove his commitment to fighting corruption.
The money would be spent on a project to “strengthen public financial management systems” by enhancing transparency, accountability and service delivery in five ministries, the Washington-based Banks board of directors said in a statement.
Despite Kibakis vows to clean up graft, donors say corruption may have cost Kenya up to a billion dollar (henved 6 milliarder DKR) since 2002, nearly a fifth of the countrys 2004-05 official state budget of about 5,5 billion dollar.
Several foreign donor nations, including the United States, suspended assistance to Kenya last year because of concerns Kibaki was not following through on his anti-corruption pledges.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
Læs også telegrammet “Ny dyster korruptions-rapport rammer Kenyas Kibaki”, under dato 25.01.06, i rubrikken Nyt fra den 3. Verden.
