Kenya: Police Take 43.5 Per Cent Lead in Taking Bribes, Lands Ministry,
Judiciary Follow
By Gilbert Koech
Saturday, Dec 06th 2014
The police force, the Lands ministry, the judiciary and the Kenya Revenue
Authority have the highest numbers of bribery cases, a survey by
Transparency International has revealed.
The East African bribery index 2014 shows that the police received 43.5 per
cent of all collected bribes, the Lands ministry 11.9 per cent, the
judiciary 11.6 per cent and KRA 7.7 per cent.
The Lands ministry, with those seeking services parting with Sh7,219,
according to the survey, closed some registries in the recent past for an
audit.
Those seeking services from the judiciary parted with Sh7,885 down from
Sh8,390 in 2013, KRA required Sh6,815, the county administration Sh4,942 and
the police Sh 4,821.
The report says the average size of the bribes ranged from Sh881 to Sh7,885.
It says 90 per cent of respondents from the East African countries do not
report bribery incidents despite the availability of several platforms.
Some 27 per cent of the Kenyan respondents said they did not know where to
go, casting doubts on the portal President Uhuru Kenyatta launched for
submitting cases online.
"Lack of information on where to report as well as inaction after reporting
are some of the reasons as to why many did not see the need to report the
vice", the report which paints a bleak future for EAC member states says.
Asked if government efforts to curb the vice are satisfactory, 58 per cent
expressed discontent while another 57 per cent said they had personally not
done anything to help.
The report states that 81 per cent of the Kenyan respondents said the
country's level of corruption is high, another 51 per cent anticipating that
the number of cases will hit an all-time high in 2015.
Some 78 per cent of Rwandan respondents were however optimistic that the
number of cases would dwindle.
The report recommends more awareness creation on venues and avenues for
reporting bribery and urgent reforms within the police force, the Lands
ministry and the Judiciary in order for corrupt officials to be punished.
It was carried out over the past twelve months in Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and
Uganda and involved 10,597 respondents.
In Kenya, 2,164 respondents in 16 counties were surveyed between May and
September, 31 per cent reporting that they had given bribes to access
various services.