Matiang’i: Digitisation of records to weed out graft cartels in public offices

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, DCI George Kinoti and DPP Noordin Haji during the launch of the digital OB at Buruburu Police Station in Nairobi on August 3, 2020. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • To accomplish the task, Ms Syonzua demanded a bribe of Sh3,000, which Syombua negotiated down to Sh2,500.
  • However, evidence tabled by EACC’s forensic investigators found her guilty of receiving a bribe to perform public duty and abuse of office.

On July 24, 2018, a senior clerical officer attached to Kasarani registration bureau was found guilty of receiving a Sh2,500 bribe from a woman who was desperate to have fast-track the processing of son’s birth certificate.

Nahum Syombua Musyoka had given up the hope of ever getting hold of the vital document after waiting for it for weeks when a friend referred her to Ms Justina Syonzua, clerical officer who would help her get the job done quickly.

To accomplish the task, Ms Syonzua demanded a bribe of Sh3,000, which Syombua negotiated down to Sh2,500.

However after she gave out the bribe, Ms Syonzua went silent until the matter was reported to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and investigations started.

Forensic investigators

Before the matter was brought to court, Syonzua cleverly returned the bribe to Syombua and in court pretended not to have known who Syombua was.

However, evidence tabled by EACC’s forensic investigators found her guilty of receiving a bribe to perform public duty and abuse of office.

The actions of Ms Syonzua and other fraudulent officers working in public offices and mostly dealing with files in bulk have pushed the government to digitise records in key ministries and departments that have for years been plagued by corruption.

“There’s an animal called ‘file’ which is the basis in which people seek rent. Any matter cannot move because of the file…our citizens have been suffering. This marks the funeral to that thing,” noted Interior CS Fred Matiang’i referring to delay tactics used by officers seeking bribes from citizens.

He made the remarks during the launch of the digital OB last week.

Land cartels

The digitisation process started with the haven for land cartels — land registries where it seeks to bring down the process of registering land from 73 to 12 days and rid the property industry of massive irregularities that have caused endless pain to Kenyans.

The digitisation then moved to the civil registration offices where Mr Matiang’i pledged to ensure that the process of acquiring birth and death certificates is automated to reduce number of days it takes to get a passport.

The move, according to the CS, would help rid the bureaus of the brokers who have been taking advantage of the long manual process to obtain bribes from Kenyans.

Last month, the Judiciary launched its e-registration portal, which was a week later followed by the launch of the Office of Directorate of Public Prosecution’s Case Management System dubbed Uadilifu.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has also started its integration into the system.