Call for coordinated anti-corruption strategy

Kenya's efforts to combat graft would be greatly enhanced if the country's anti-corruption commission were given the power to prosecute individuals suspected of engaging in graft, said participants at a meeting on how best to fight the vice. Currently, the mandate of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) is restricted to investigating cases of suspected corruption and then handing over evidence to the attorney general’s office for prosecution. Representatives from state institutions and the public sector gathered in the capital city of Nairobi on Tuesday to discuss a proposed national anti-corruption plan, designed with a view to ensuring a more coordinated approach against graft in Kenya. Critics said resources were not being equitably shared between the investigative KACC and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which plays the prosecutorial role in government. They warned that the disparity in resource allocation could result in corruption cases meticulously investigated by the well funded KACC failing to lead to convictions in court because of weaknesses in prosecution. "The problem has been that one entity has been massively facilitated," said Keriako Tobiko, the director of public prosecution, during the meeting. Justice Minister Martha Karua acknowledged that corruption was still rampant in Kenya, despite efforts by the government to fight it. She supported the call for enhanced coordination between the various state organs with the mandate to fight graft. "It seems we have only scratched the surface in fighting the menace," she said. President Mwai Kibaki's government, which came to power in 2002 pledging to eradicate corruption, has been plagued by allegations of high-level graft.Several cabinet ministers resigned earlier this year after they were mentioned in ongoing corruption investigations. Several bilateral donors and the World Bank have withheld some funding to Kenya because of concerns that the government is not doing enough to tackle corruption.