NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 22 – Kenya’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) recorded a two-point improvement last year according to the latest report published by Transparency International.
The annual report which ranks nations on a scale of 1 to 100 – 1 being the most corrupt – gave Kenya a score of 28 per cent in its 2017 index, compared to 26 per cent in 2016.
The country was ranked 143 in 2017, compared to position 145 out of 180 nations in 2016.
Botswana, at 61 per cent, had the best index in the continent.
New Zealand, Denmark, and Finland were ranked the top three nations with indices of 89, 88, and 85 per cent respectively.
The three nations had a score of 90, 90, and 85 per cent respectively in 2016.
Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria had the worst rankings globally at 9, 12 and 14 per cent respectively.
Within the East African Community region, Rwanda emerged the best anti-corrupt nation with a score of 48 per cent, followed by Tanzania at 36 per cent. Kenya was ranked third.
Transparency International Executive Director for Kenya Samuel Kimeu attributed a firm anti-corruption regime to Rwanda’s impressive index.
“Rwanda has had a better luck in the enforcement of the law. You’re more likely to be punished if you get involved in corruption in Rwanda than in Kenya. The rule of law in my view is the determinant if you compare the two countries,” Kimeu told Capital FM News on Thursday.
He said there was a need for a stricter enforcement of the law for the war against graft to be won in Kenya.
“There’re too many political games that are played in Kenya and we must ensure this comes to an end,” he said.
Kimeu cited the clearance of 109 candidates by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in last year’s election despite the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) having advised the poll agency against accepting their candidature as an impediment to the war on graft.
On June 1, IEBC acknowledged receipt of the EACC list indicating the status of candidates who had sought clearance to seek elective offices.
109 candidates were indicated to either have been convicted or had pending cases in courts of law.
They included eleven gubernatorial candidates, one senatorial, two woman representative aspirants, thirteen single member constituency parliamentary aspirants and fourteen county assembly aspirants who were said to be under investigations by the anti-graft body at the time.
The list had six gubernatorial aspirants, two senatorial, one eyeing for a woman representative slot, nine MP, and 23 MCA hopefuls with pending cases.
