It is time to consider getting rid of ineffective EACC

“To combat and prevent corruption and economic crime in Kenya through law enforcement, preventive measures, public education and promotion of standards and practices of integrity, ethics and anti-corruption,” reads the mandate statement on the website of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). A simple and straightforward statement if there was any.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the architects of the EACC knew exactly what they wanted when they conceived the idea of the agency. It was an acknowledgement that the Kenyan society was not only corrupt but also that corruption is dangerous, nay fatal, to the country survival. It was a realisation that corruption was not just a crime but one which needed extraordinary attention and vigour to deal with. I think it was in the light of this that chief magistrate Douglas Ogoti hinted that it is a threat to national security when he ruled against granting some 48 suspects of graft in the National Youth Service multi-billion scandal bail.

SUBSTANTIAL BUDGET

But I digress.

It has been some 20 years since the idea of a special authority to deal with corruption was institutionalised. Two decades since a substantial budget was set aside to hire and put in place a team with the express mission of ensuring public funds are not stolen and no Kenyan is not forced to pay for public service.

In December 1997 a fairly rich ex-policemen and politician was named by then President Daniel arap Moi to head the pioneer autonomous anti-corruption agency following the amendment of the Prevention of Corruption Act. President Moi must have had his own reasons to pick a professional law enforcer and maker for the position when he settled on former Kilome MP John Haroun Mwau. But he did, and that marked the beginning of an official attempt to protect the Kenyan against the corrupt.

NARC REGIME

Other than Mwau, there has been Aaron Ringera, a judge, Patrick Lumumba, a lawyer, Mumo Matemu, another lawyer, Phillip Kinisu an accountant and now Eliud Wabukala, an archbishop. Clearly, these men have not been able to give the country what it aspired for when it set up the institution. Apart from 2002, the country has witnessed an ever growing rate of corruption, going by statistics from Transparency International. It is easy to guess why 2002 had the lowest level of corruption. The country was celebrating the coming to power of a political regime that had promised zero tolerance to graft in its campaigns and the lords of graft were apprehensive of what the new sheriffs could do to them if they were caught. But after a year, it seems, the corrupt realised that the zero-tolerance-to-corruption gospel was just hot air that was neutralised by greed. It was back to business as usual!

Twenty years is time long enough to conceive, birth, initiate and marry a person. It is long enough to know whether a project is viable or not. It should be long enough to tell if a business is worth its name or not. It is long enough to evaluate the efficacy, sustainability and impact of a charitable course. It is time for the country to put the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission under the radar and examine its viability.

LEADERSHIP YARDSTICK

The EACC has failed the country on its both fronts, the corruption and the ethics. It is the body also mandated to vet and approve or disapprove those aspiring for public office, based on some integrity yardsticks that it should also develop. It has been four election cycles since and a casual look at some of the leaders we have had elected to the various offices does not give a very impressive account of an ethics body. Here, it is difficult to establish a value for money case.

And that is why Parliament needs to give some serious consideration to a bill recently introduced by Aldai MP Cornelly Serem. The amendment bill, according to reports, seeks to repeal article 79 of the Constitution, put in place in 1997 and retained in the Constitution of Kenya 2010, which created the anti-graft agency.

CLEANSING OUTFIT

There are many reasons argued in Mr Serem’s Bill, but the undeniable fact is that the EACC has failed the country big time. Some people have actually described the anti-corruption body as corruption facilitation and cleansing outfit where the corrupt run to for moral reinvigoration.

We are better off getting rid of the agency and redirecting the resources to the police, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the National Intelligence Services who have lately shown some resolve to fight corruption. The resources transferred may include the few competent personnel still at EACC.

Michael Cherambos is a social commentator based in Nairobi. [email protected]