While Kenya has recorded a marginal increase in the fight against corruption, the major result is that few countries have fallen on the corruption index.
According to a report by Transparency International published today, Kenya is this year at position 28, up one position from last year.
It is also ranked at position 137 by the same TI’s Corruption Index (CPI).
This was the same as Kenya’s Eastern African counterpart, Uganda, which also scored position 28, and ranked 137 on the index.
The Kenyan context with regard to corruption has not been easy to fight. This is because some government officials, such as the governor of Nairobi have been implicated in it. Last December, for instance, Mr Gideon Mbuvi, was released from custody after having been detained for five days, following formal accusation of gaining $ 3.5 million, through illegal procurement and payment schemes.
But there have been other public officials working with other government agencies, such as the National Land Commission and Kenya Railways Corporation, which have been accused of stealing from state.
Other countries in the Eastern African region such as Burundi also scored an increase of 19, up from 17.
“Compared with its other competitors such as the Western part of Europe and the European Union (E.U.) bloc, which recorded the highest average score of 66 over 100, Sub-Saharan Africa (S.S.A), had the lowest score in the whole continent of an average of 32 over 100,” states the TI report.
” Stopping corruption in the continent has not only to do with involving citizens in the decisiopn-making process but also with tackling the relationship between business and politics,” says Ms Patricia Moreira, the Managing Director of TI.
Countries like Seychelles which scored the highest mark in the SSA region of 66 out of 100, ironically, are prone to challenges with International Business Companies (IBC’s) that require compliance with tax laws in the country, have struggled with corruption, states the 2019 CPI report.
Earlier this January this year, the Secretary of State for Finance, Trade and Investment in Seychelles, Mr Patrick Payet, will table an anti-laundering bill next month, so as to allow the Registrar General of companies to be able to spot companies dealing with the vice.
The Seychelles, a group of 13 islands found after East Africa on the Indian Ocean, has already been accused by France of not providing adequate information about taxes of IBCs, thus resorting to blacklisting it. Inclusive of this list is 12 other countries that France has blacklisted, such as the Bahamas, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago and Oman.
“ Another country that scored highly on the CPI is Angola with a mark of 27, up from 19 that was the case in 2018,” states the report.
Anola which has been in the headlines to the “ Luanda Leaks”, a set of over 700,000 documents, such as e-mails, contracts, and accounts, which have been leaked by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa, regarding the businesses owned by Africa’s richest woman as ranked by Forbes magazine and daugher of the country’s former President, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Isabella.
“ She has been accused of forgery of documents, money laundering as well as embezzlement of funds,” said the Prosecutor General of Angola, Helder Pitra Gros, yesterday, as cited in a news conference by RFI.
The Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa uncovered how Isabella dos Santos and her husband, Sindika Dokolo, have ownership in more than 400 companies in a variety of sectors such as the media in multiple countries.
Another culprit is Madagascar, which dropped by one score to rank at position 24 this year, down from 25 last year. The election which has resulted in the election of Andry Rajoelina, was accused of Russian interference through bribing of students and candidates to interfere with the poll.
