Kenya: Corruption in Public Sector Still Widespread in Kenya, PWC New Report

Kenyan Sh1000 notes (FILE)

Nairobi — Kenya's public sector is still rife with corruption, a new report shows, even as government efforts to eradicate the vice persist.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) says that this is despite efforts to build and strengthen accountability through investments in public finance management (PFM) and in oversight institutions such as Parliament.

Procurement is one of the areas where embezzlement of public funds is high in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan.

Quarterly surveys by Kenyan and Ugandan procurement authorities have proved little in containing the vice.

"This has however not stopped public sector entities from procuring items at multiple times, sometimes more than tenfold," read the report in part," PwC said in its latest report.

"Public sector corruption is still happening and seems to go undetected; meaning that despite the investments in oversight institutions, there is still room to do more," it added.

The report suggests putting more efforts into strengthening the recovery of illicit wealth and whistle-blower programmes, which facilitate tip-offs and continue to play an inordinately bigger role in fraud detection in East Africa.

The report puts whistle-blower programmes at 17 percent contribution in curbing graft in East Africa as compared to 5 percent globally.

"These institutions have attracted significant public and donor support, which has been fruitful as we have seen notable successes from them," asserted the report.

The PWC report reveals that such avenues have led to significant recoveries of unexplained wealth as well as convictions, which act as good deterrents to would-be perpetrators of corruption.