In a survey released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government has been ranked as the Ministry most prone to corruption with 47.5% rating, followed by the Health and Agriculture Ministries. The Kenya Police is the government department plagued the most by graft, followed by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company at 39.6% and 12.9% respectively.
The survey report states that corruption is still the toughest problem facing Kenyans ahead of unemployment and poverty, despite the government’s commitment to weed it out. The survey was conducted between 16th November to 19th December in all Counties, with 5,492 household respondents and 10 key informants.
Cases of bribes still dominate government agencies and departments, and factors that have contributed to the unethical conduct include the rush to get services quickly, assistance to be employed, access to services, hastening up services, avoiding problems with the authorities, graft being the only option among other factors.
Furthermore, the number of those who paid bribes increased 11.9% and stands at 73.1%, with bribery cases prevalent at the Registrar of persons, public hospitals, regular police, chief’s office, the Ministry of Lands and County government offices in that order. According to EACC Chairperson Eliud Wabukala who was speaking during the presentation of the report,the average bribe paid however dropped from Ksh. 5,058.75 two years ago to Ksh. 3,833.14.
Wajir County recorded the highest bribe paid, estimated at Ksh. 14,000, with Bomet County positioned as the last with a bribe payment estimation of Ksh. 400. Tana River, Migori, Kilifi and Kisii are among the other leading Counties when it comes to cases of bribing. Another eye-opening stat is that 72% of Kenyans got involved in bribe payments in 2018 an increase of 10% from 2017.
Written by Elias Wekesa
