KEPSA Foundation in partnership with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) launched the Bribery Act Guide Booklet and popular version on 7^th December 2023 at Serena Hotel, Nairobi. The Guide Booklet is a follow-through of a Corruption Risk Mapping (CRM) which recommended the development of Regulations and procedural Guidelines for implementing the Bribery Act.  The Bribery Act of 2016 stands out as a critical milestone, signalling a collective determination to root out corruption and promote ethical practices in public and private sectors.

While giving her remarks, Ms Gloria Ndekei - Executive Director, KEPSA Foundation highlighted the four (4) key priority areas under the Foundation namely: Governance & National Values; Climate Action and sustainability; Women and Youth Empowerment, Leadership & Carework; and Community Outreach/Partnerships & Networks. She noted that bribery is considered the most prevalent form of corruption and according to Transparency International, end of 2022 Report, Kenya was ranked number 123 out of 180 nations in terms of the corruption perception index (CPI) with a score of 32/100. Ms Ndekei added that some of the challenges facing the fight against corruption included, lack of whistleblower protection, cultural myths and acceptance and lack of public awareness. She reiterated the need to do away with the myth that everybody is corrupt, “not everyone is corrupt’ That notion needed to change.

Ms Ndekei gave an example of the Women in cross-border trade who used to pay much more than the stipulated professional charges, just because they were not informed. She urged the citizens to take time to understand the tax remittance manuals to get a better understanding of what was required of them.  She further noted that one of the reasons why people engage in corruption was the “get rich quick mentality” and called for patience to acquire wealth in dignity.

She added that the KEPSA Foundation played a key role in unlocking stakeholder collaboration in the fight against corruption. She appreciated the partnership between KEPSA Foundation and CIPE during the development of the Bribery Regulations and Guidelines, 2022 and appreciated CIPE's role in advancing democracy, integrity, and ethics in business. 

In concluding her remarks, Ms Ndekei emphasized that there was a greater need for an inclusive partnership between the government and the private sector in providing a unified and well-coordinated multi-sectoral approach against corruption geared towards national growth development and the achievement of the Kenyan Vision 2030 and beyond.

Mr. Ben Kiragu - Country Director, CIPE highlighted the objectives and activities of CIPE and areas of partnership with KEPSA Foundation. He acknowledged the efforts of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in the fight against corruption and called upon the audience to interrogate who the co-conspirators of corruption are as the system was all round. He echoed that access to the market and finance was a problem in business operations and that was where corruption thrived.

He noted that CIPE has been at the Africa Business Ethics Conference since 2019 to advocate for the implementation of the Bribery Act, 2016 and he was excited that the private sector was setting foot in creating awareness and sensitizing its members. Mr. Kiragu also remarked on Transparency International’s record on corruption and scores. He mentioned that from the statistics, the nation was fairing well compared to other nations but the current situation was worse.

Mr Patrick Wandare, Legal/Project Officer, KEPSA Foundation/CIPE, gave the highlights of the Bribery Act Quick Guide booklet and which included the offences and the obligations of the public and private entities, penalties and consequences, prevention of bribery, reporting of bribery, whistleblowing and witnesses, and the compliance guide for public and private entities.

In his remarks, Mr Patrick Obath - Chairman, KEPSA Foundation noted that the issue of prevention was key and that everyone should understand the value of no corruption. He said that preventing corruption adds to the bottom line and that open contracting, where the people manage the contract had been seen as a fruitful method as evidenced in Elgeyo Marakwet County. It leads to a reduction in wastage of up to 40%. He urged citizens to police all contracts and that open contracting should be implemented by procurement officers.

On the issues of funding, Mr Obath alleged that there’s a need to look at innovations and that other methods like establishing the Anti-corruption fund could be key for offices to be free from threats. He also mentioned that the Public Service Act should be reviewed for specific crimes of corruption. In his conclusion, he added that the process was long for administrative action and that there’s a need to bring in the youth to establish culture change.

Mr Vincent Monda, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr. Renson M. Ingonga noted that the DPP expressed his gratitude to the KEPSA Foundation and CIPE for implementing the Bribery Act project for coming up with Regulations and Guidelines. He noted that The Bribery Act Quick Guide booklet will supplement and enhance the fight against corruption and that the booklet will provide an opportunity to streamline and ensure consistency in the implementation and application of ethics by the public and private sectors.

Mr Monda noted that the DPP acknowledged that corruption was a major threat to the country’s ambition to meet its development agenda. The DPP emphasized the need to focus on external stakeholders as part of his multifront approach to addressing this.

‘’I must emphasize that in collaboration with government institutions such as the Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice, the Judiciary, National Police Service, Directorate of Criminal Investigation and the EACC have consistently enhanced synergy in combating corruption. These efforts among others have been beneficial in reducing the threat of corruption in Kenya although a lot more should be done,” Mr Monda referenced from the DPP’s speech.

The DPP urged KEPSA Foundation and the private sector to join the ODPP in ensuring that the bottom-up transformation agenda and vision 2030 was realized through a corruption-free society by vigorously safeguarding the country’s resources.

The event featured a plenary session on Unlocking Stakeholders’ Potential in the Fight against Corruption: An Assessment of the Impact of Corruption on Economic Development. Panellists included Mr Vincent Monda; Ms Sheila Masinde - Executive Director, Transparency International (TI) – Kenya; Mr Gikonyo Gitonga – KEPSA Trustee; Mr Richard Harney – KEPSA Director, Investments & Legal; and Mr David Gathii - Director, National Anti -Corruption Campaign Steering Committee, Office of the Attorney General.

Ms Masinde noted that her understanding of the theme of the day was that Kenyans could not leave the fight against corruption to EACC, the private sector and Transparency International alone. She urged all to sustain efforts and collaborate. She acknowledged EACC's role in recovering assets.  She further added that we were losing much more and that the best approach was prevention and that time should not be spent in court to recover assets that had already been consumed.

In order to counter corruption, there’s a need to strengthen systems and report corruption via whistle-blowers who also need an institutional framework to protect them as some of them have lost their jobs in helping the nation.  Ms Masinde identified that the Whistleblower Protection Bill has taken ages to be enacted and that we lack resources to fast-track events. She intimated that the cultural aspect was killing us and we should disrupt this by creating a value of good behaviour and encouraging social behavioural change.

In conclusion, she emphasized the stakeholders’ role to unite in the fight against corruption and called on the Government to cease appointing persons with questionable ethical standards in public offices as this lowers the standards for office.

Mr Gathii pointed out that the Office of the Attorney General has a role in fighting corruption and he acknowledged that he participates in this. “Corruption is the abuse of power for personal gain and in the fight against corruption, Kenyans won't support if they don’t understand. We need to establish awareness and work directly with citizens directly,” he remarked.  He identified that our challenge is on translation of knowledge to action against the vice and that only 3.4% of people educated act despite the knowledge.

Mr. Gathii noted that the cost of enforcement was too high hence prevention is better than cure. He called on investment in campaign awareness in institutions to establish campaign networks. He reiterated that there’s a need to apply education as a marking scheme. Referencing the education campaign his office carried out in rural areas, he said that it was an easy drawing for the communities as one of their people was a leader and that it helped identify with the message.

He mentioned that the role of the public was to fight corruption through law enforcement and that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions needs to be equipped with enough resources.

Mr. Richard Harney called on the private sector to adopt and put in place measures, policies and anti-bribery model procedures, ESG frameworks and also seek help from stakeholders to help in policies development and ensure people in business are following the law.

On the role of lawyers, he noted that lawyers have the responsibility to prevent corruption as some are used for conduit of corruption. He called for the sensitization of lawyers as they need more ethical conventions. “Public service is now a self-service money-making opportunity. We lack proper leadership,” he remarked on how corruption affects governance. He intimated that unfit people hold office that the implementation of laws, including the Constitution of Kenya 2010 was a problem.

Mr Gikonyo Gitonga noted enough was not being done in the fight against corruption and that implementation was not working properly. He further noted that people were fighting back as some embraced technology and there was no serious political will.

He mentioned that the Kenyan population is educated on technology and that there is a need to develop it but we refuse to use it. He gave an example of Kiambu County which refrained from digital and reverted to manual operations after interference in the systems and hence needed to hold institutions accountable.

He inferred that some professionals and inspectors were collaborating in putting Kenyans in danger and that the will to fight corruption should extend to everyone and not just be left to the comfort of politicians alone. He urged everyone to step up the fight and efforts and speak up. “We know what to do but we don’t actually do it,” he added. He further noted that in the Real Estate sector, people avoid banks and hence invest in this sector as proceeds can't be traced easily. He identified that the challenge was so much on regulation from conceptualization to building.

In concluding his remarks, Mr Gitonga noted that embracing technology to prevent or reduce corruption should be encouraged since the manual systems were infested by human interruption. He urged stakeholders to deal with perception, educate people as part of business comes to bribery and also teach about integrity.

Mr Vincent Monda highlighted the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) Strategic Agenda that was launched on 22^nd September 2023 focusing on crucial stakeholders. He said that the ODPP’s agenda was prosecution as an enabler of national development by addressing corruption.

He mentioned that it was an achievement that during court cases, leaders were barred from accessing offices as it hindered court operations and urged to take incremental steps with Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.

He identified that the challenge was on legislation and that the law was deficient as persons have to exhaust the appellate process and urged the private sector to push the agenda. Further, he stated that Parliament appropriates money and could be problematic since there could be threats to slash ODPP’s budget hence hindering its operations. He noted that how we test corruption was not proper and that we should look at corruption in terms of amounts instead of the public interest. “We need to educate the public as every corruption case can't be processed in the system,” he added.

He further stated that some companies in the private sector are being involved in corruption and he called for the element of financial intelligence in partners. He concluded his remarks by urging the private sector to be transparent about its activities

In giving the next steps and way forward, Mr Duncan Mochama expressed his delight seeing the participation of the youth who had in regard to the ODPP Strategic Agenda. He also said that the same was happening sooner with the Attorney General in the same spirit of sensitization of corruption. He called for the opening up of the Multi-Sectoral Initiative Against Corruption (MSIAC) Conference to bring in new stakeholders and for the review of the Public Service Act.

In giving the vote of thanks, Ms Lucy Karume – KEPSA Trustee urged participants to carry on with the spirit of the event forward into their daily lives. She urged them to be the change they wish to see in the world, standing firm against corruption and bribery in all its forms. Ms Karume noted that the launch of the Bribery Act Quick Guide booklet marked the beginning of a journey, and with the continued support of KEPSA Foundation partners, participants, and government, there was confidence in making lasting strides towards a more just and ethical society. 

The Booklet can be accessed here:

https://admin.kepsa.or.ke/public/files/docs/17022959772.pdf