Moi stresses need for anti-corruption bill

President Daniel arap Moi on Sunday called for Members of Parliament (MPs) to support a constitutional amendment bill on Monday (13 August) that would pave the way for two other anti-corruption bills, or risk pushing Kenya further into a state of economic decline. The bill last week failed to secure the two-thirds of parliament required for the government to enact it, and the Speaker ruled that a second vote could take place on 13 August. Moi warned that if parliament failed to pass the bill, which would allow the government present the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Bill and allow the re-establishment of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (KACA), the country would be denied at least 25 billion Kenya Shillings (some US $317 million) in external funding and vast amounts of private sector investment, the ‘Daily Nation’ reported. [The original KACA was ruled unconstitutional by the Kenyan High Court in January, on the basis that it undermined the powers of the Attorney-General and the Police Commissioner.] “At a time like this, it is important that all MPs put their party affiliations aside and vote for the good of our people and our national interest,” he said in a statement. Moi also stated that last year’s suspension of IMF aid [the agency discontinued assistance because of the government’s failure to fulfil promises on tackling corruption and privatising the economy] had already caused bruising poverty in the country, the report added.

Meanwhile, church groups, opposition MPs and professional groups dismissed the suggestion by the US State Department on Thursday that the bill was a step in the right direction, saying that a bill giving the reconstituted KACA “full autonomy” needed to replace the current one. A coalition of groups intended to be represented on the revitalised authority said that while it understood the urgent need to tackle corruption and unlock international aid, the current bill was defective and should be rejected. The organisations strongly oppose a provision in the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Bill to allow an amnesty for crimes committed before December 1997, and say both bills have the potential to create conflict between the Attorney-General and KACA in the execution of their duties