Mutula seeks to give anti-graft team teeth

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission Act will be amended to give the anti-graft agency powers to prosecute.

The Act, in its current form, was not constitutional, Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo told the Nation on Monday after meeting the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee at Continental House in Nairobi.

“The Constitution says the agency must have the powers to enforce and ensure compliance with the chapter on leadership and integrity. How then, can you enforce anything without the powers to issue sanctions and to punish? The commission must have more teeth,” he said.

The mandate to prosecute will be in addition to the investigative powers the EACC was accorded in the Act that was hurriedly passed by Parliament last August.

Mr Kilonzo also proposes an amendment obliging public officers to furnish the commission with reports on integrity.

“Ethics is not about law, morality or faith. It is a powerful tool of management,” said Mr Kilonzo.

The minister also proposes a maximum fine of Sh500,000 or a two-year jail term for a public officer who fails to “cooperate with the commission”.

“The Bill that I took to Parliament was mutilated beyond belief. There were deletions and mutilations. As soon as MPs finish legislating on the seven Bills, I will go back to the House with amendments to give the EACC some teeth,” he said.

“The nominees to this commission were rejected because of lack of passion and drive; yet the law itself has no passion; no drive!” he said on the controversy surrounding the choice of Mr Mumo Matemu, Ms Irene Keino and Prof Jane Onsongo as EACC commissioners.

The three were rejected by the House Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs for “lack of passion, drive and interest necessary to fight corruption in the country”.

However, the House overturned the committee’s verdict and their approval is pending before the House. Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka is expected to table a fresh motion seeking MPs’ approval of the team.

When Parliament was debating the Bill, MPs were busy settling scores with the then director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, Prof Patrick Lumumba, who had implied that many of them were involved in theft of public money.

“The way they approved the law made nonsense of the constitutional importance of such an organ,” said Mr Kilonzo.