Hotbed of corruption: Kenya’s elite have captured the state – unrest is inevitable
Research Fellow, Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics and Political Science
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Gedion Onyango receives funding from ESRC.
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A strong undercurrent driving the unprecedented anti-tax protests in Kenya is outrage over theft of public resources coupled with the extravagant lifestyles of public servants.
There are widespread frustrations that President William Ruto also failed to deliver on his electoral promises to address corruption. He’s even earned a new nickname — “Zakayo”, a reference to the corrupt biblical Zaccheus, the chief tax collector of Jericho. Gedion Onyango provides insights into how bad corruption is in Kenya and what’s needed to rein it in.
How widespread is corruption in Kenya’s public sector?
Corruption is deeply entrenched in Kenya and has been synonymous with politics and public service since independence, in the 1960s .
Corruption has become part of how public institutions work and government is full of corrupt individuals . It’s prevalent at every level and affects access to essential services such as water, education and healthcare. Bribery, extortion and kickbacks are some of the key forms of corruption in public service delivery and production.
This has a significant impact on the lives of Kenyans. It drains resources that could otherwise have been invested into key services that are desperately needed, like healthcare. It also hinders the country’s economic development by adding to debt levels and limiting government performance.
In 2016, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said Kenya lost about US$6 billion to corruption every year.
My research over the years has centred on kickbacks, bribery and the institutionalisation of bureaucratic corruption in Kenya’s public sector. It provides evidence of the realities of corruption in Kenya and its impact on ordinary citizens. I also look into solutions for corruption , such as whistleblowing, and the need for whistleblower protection.
Through my work, I’ve found that the system is layered with corrupt practices. Three out of four Kenyans have either participated in police corruption or witnessed it. This means that most Kenyans, directly or indirectly, have been affected by corruption.
Data from the Afrobarometer research institution shows that most Kenyans (51.6%) believe that some civil servants are corrupt. This is higher than the average of 47.4% across African countries studied. In light of the current unrest, it’s useful to note that 44.5% of Kenyans perceive tax officials as corrupt.
Corruption also seems to be getting worse. The recent 2022 National Ethics and Corruption Survey reveals a worrying trend of increased bribery for accessing public services. The percentage of people who reported paying bribes rose from 55.9% in 2021 to 64% in 2022. This includes getting business licences, police protection or even access to water and healthcare.
Things got worse after the rollout of the new country government system in 2010 – 47 counties were created as part of a devolution process. The county system transferred political power and resources to local levels, but there were weak monitoring and oversight systems, extensive patronage and loose citizen engagement.
There’s an urgent need for political will to address corruption and its root causes: the lack of the rule of law and political irresponsibility among both the leaders and citizens.
What’s been done about corruption in Kenya’s public sector?
Kenya has made efforts to address corruption, but there is little political will to enforce these legal measures.
Since 2011, various laws and institutions have been created to support anti-corruption efforts. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission was introduced, along with other oversight institutions.
In 2018, a milestone was achieved when Kenya created the National Ethics and Anti-Corruption Policy . It doesn’t have power of prosecution, but it performs well in asset recovery and investigations, yielding positive results.
Whistleblower legislation is in the pipeline . This will encourage the reporting of corruption, which continues to be risky for potential whistleblowers in the public sector. If the whistleblower bill is enacted into law, it will help safeguard people who play a crucial role in fighting corruption.
Why haven’t they worked?
The phrase “the fish rots from the head” aptly describes Kenya’s anti-corruption dilemma. Kenya’s political elites engage in corrupt practices to increase their wealth and influence through elaborate, murky bureaucratic processes. This has led to “state capture,” where corruption has become ingrained in the public sector and is used to maintain political power and build wealth.
As a result, efforts to improve public accountability are often undermined and manipulated to serve the interests of the political elites, to the detriment of the public. This has allowed corrupt systems to take hold at all levels of authority.
Weak citizen oversight and extensive ethnic politics, too, have turned the public sector into a hotbed for corruption.
The consequence is a highly non-meritocratic system, ethnically based public service, and politicised, dysfunctional public sector.
History has shown that breaking such a system requires a political miracle like a revolution or a very intentional political leadership that puts the citizenry at the centre of governance.
What needs to happen?
To effectively address corruption in Kenya, it is essential to adopt more comprehensive and radical approaches which target the governance and political conditions that allow it to flourish.
The current political leadership, like its predecessors, has shown a lack of commitment to implementing the policies that are in place.
Instilling a culture of the rule of law can only happen through popular public disobedience, as we are currently witnessing through the Gen-Z demonstrations. This will reassert citizen agency and voices in political matters.
In addition, Kenyans must take action against the widespread culture of corruption within the government at all levels. A citizen consciousness ( active citizenship and demand for legal rights ) is needed to restore the proper functioning of oversight institutions and key governmental bodies.
- State capture
- William Ruto
- T&F research
- Finance Bill
- KenyaTaxProtests
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Corruption and Governance in Africa
Swaziland, Kenya, Nigeria
- © 2017
- Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr. 0
Development Practice International , Oakville, Canada
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- Offers a comprehensive and authoritative account of what we know about corruption in developing countries utilizing a cross-section of case studies from the three most corrupt countries in Anglophone Africa
- Draws on the author’s extensive field experience in advising African governments on anti-corruption policy
- Explores case studies of corruption in Swaziland, Kenya, and Nigeria
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Front matter, corruption in africa: the health sector and policy recommendations for managing the risks.
- Kempe Ronald Hope Sr.
Corruption in Swaziland
Corruption in kenya, corruption in nigeria, controlling corruption in africa: a governance approach, back matter.
“The most important contribution of this book is its emphasis on institutions: the latter are very important in the fight against corruption. No anti-corruption project can succeed without effective and fully functioning institutions.” (John Mukum Mbaku, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Weber State University, USA)
“Prof. Hope has produced another significant book on Africa. It’s a must read for all those concerned with, or interested in, corruption and governance issues on the continent.” (Bornwell C. Chikulo, Professor of Development Studies, North-West University, South Africa)
Authors and Affiliations
Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr.
About the author
Bibliographic information.
Book Title : Corruption and Governance in Africa
Book Subtitle : Swaziland, Kenya, Nigeria
Authors : Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr.
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50191-8
Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages : Political Science and International Studies , Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-319-50190-1 Published: 03 February 2017
Softcover ISBN : 978-3-319-84340-7 Published: 13 July 2018
eBook ISBN : 978-3-319-50191-8 Published: 25 January 2017
Edition Number : 1
Number of Pages : XXI, 204
Number of Illustrations : 2 illustrations in colour
Topics : African Politics , Public Policy , Comparative Politics , International Organization , Development Studies , Public Administration
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towards corruption, that ranges from justification, to outrage and to involvement. On the basis of these findings, we will the analyze reasons and resources for fighting corruption in Kenya . This paper is the result of field research carried out between March and September 2019. More than 40 semi-structured interviews
Typically, as Gathii (2011) and others have reported in the Kenyan case, bureaucratic processes like the burden of proof, legal lacuna, and institutional overlaps that frustrate anticorruption ...
4.1 Challenges. In Kenya, because many political leaders have been found to be behind grand corruption, there has. been a lack of the political will required to break the cycle of corruption.165 Even when the president. cracks the whip on corruption, his close aides are still engaged in corruption conduct.
trace the forms of corruption in Kenya; examine the challenges in the war on corruption in Kenya; and to suggest effective measures that could be used in dealing with corruption and its effects. The article adopted a single exploratory case study, which was predominantly qualitative, incorporating extensive use of written documents.
Nairobi, Kenya National Crime Research Centre, (2017). Emerging Crimes: The Case of Kidnappings in Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya Public Service Commission (2014). Public Service Compliance with Values and Principles in Article 10 and 232 of the Constitution. 2013/2014 Evaluation Report. Nairobi, Kenya PEW Research, (2016).
analyze the effect of corruption on Kenya's economic growth. Second, the study sought to examine and analyze the security implications of corruption in Kenya. And third, the study sought to examine and analyze the apparent growth of corruption notwithstanding a wide range of Government measures to counter it.
Meaning and Causes of Corruption with a Special Reference to Kenya: A Moral Perspective. Uhuru Kenyatta, during the official launch of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Strategic Plan Jan 2013
Abstract. The culture of corruption has grown roots in Kenyan society at large and become endemic. Institutions, which were designed for the regulation of the relationships between citizens and the State, are being used instead for the personal enrichment of public officials (politicians and bureaucrats) and other corrupt private agents (individuals, groups, and businesses).
Anti-Corruption Police Squad in 1992 and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA) in 1997. The turn of the millennium saw several far-reaching governance, constitutional, legal, and political reforms aimed at creating a more democratic and accountable Kenyan State. Several laws were enacted, such as Kenya's Anti-Corruption and
ion has been identified as one way of corruption prevention. The National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee (NACCSC) was created by the Government of Kenya to coordina. e a country-wide anti-corruption public awareness programme. NACCSC seeks to change cultural attitudes towards corruption in favour of the exercise of transparency and ...
Sunday Bobai Agang, Pregala Pillay and Chris Jones. A Multidimensional Perspective on Corruption in Africa: Wealth, Power, Religion and Democracy. Edited by Sunday Bobai Agang, Pregala Pillay and Chris Jones. This book first published 2019. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
In 2016, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission said Kenya lost about US$6 billion to corruption every year. My research over the years has centred on kickbacks, bribery and the ...
1 examine the causes of corruption in Kenya. 2 assess the socio-economic effects of corruption on the development of Kenya. 3 determine the effectiveness of the legal and institutional bodies of fighting corruption in Kenya. 4 evaluate the proposed policies and actions put in place to reduce/eradicate corruption in Kenya. 1. Research questions
PERCEPTIONS & EXPERIENCES OF CORRUPTION IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE IN KENYA Distribution of members of the public respondents PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS ON COMMON & EMERGING TYPES OF CORRUPTION UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT CORRUPTION IS T Bribery (soliciting for and/or receiving bribes) 23.1% 16.8% T Embezzlement/ misuse/misappro priation ofpublic funds/resources ...
CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH PROPOSAL: CORRUPTION IN STATE CORPORATIONS IN KENYA: COMPLIANCE WITH CORPORATE GOVERNANCE STANDARDS AS A ... The Anatomy of Corruption in Kenya; Legal, Political and Socio-economic Perspectives edited by Kivutha Kibwana, Smokin Wanjala and Okech-Owiti ( (Claripress)) (2006) p.1 4 The Government of Kenya lost Kshs. 27 billion ...
institutions that are riddled with a high degree of corruption. Conversely, strong institutions, indicated by low levels of corruption, yield low direct and indirect costs involving time, effort and monetary resources (Zhu et al., 2012). Thus, a low degree of corruption implies low transaction costs that enable firms to source innovation
In Kenya, corruption has been a major social, political and economic stumbling block such that in 1998 corruption was said to have permeated the institutional beacon of democracy- the judiciary. Indeed, in October 2003, there was a major purge of members of the judiciary on allegations of endemic corruption.6 Other high-profile
This volume analyzes the corruption phenomenon in Africa and how to combat it from a governance perspective with illustrated case studies from three of the most corrupt of those nations covering, respectively, the Southern Africa region (Swaziland); the Eastern Africa region (Kenya); and the Western Africa region (Nigeria).
S. T. Taaliu 2 articulates the causes of corruption in Kenyan schools and Universities and also examines different approaches to curbing this problem.
e and Corruption Affects the Youth in Kenya1.0. IntroductionThe quest for youth participation in governance, politics and. ther developmental processes is an increasing global concern. To this end, the UN General Assembly adopted the World Programme of Action for Youth to the year 2000 an. beyond to advance the youth agenda in matters of ...
The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists Vihiga Road, Kileleshwa P.O. Box 59743-00200 Nairobi Tel: 254 20 575981/2 Fax: 254 20 575982 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http//: www.icj-kenya.org. The Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists, 2004. ISBN: 9966-958-85-1.
Research estimates on damages caused by corruption in procurement indicate that an average of between 10 to 25% of contract value is lost in dire process (TI, Corruption and Public Procurement, 2010). This leads to high price levels of businesses. Corruption in procurement has cost lives particularly during the implementation of a