Interior Ministry, Murang’a County most corrupt – Anti-corruption survey

The Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government is perceived as the most corrupt ministry at 40.8%; this is according to the National Ethics and Corruption Survey, 2015 released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

Among the ministries in the national government, the worst ranked Ministry has, however, recorded an improvement from the 59.9% perception index in 2012, to 40.3% in 2015.

The survey shows that the Ministry of Health comes second in corruption perception with 14.3% rating followed by the Lands Ministry at 11.3%.

In the survey, the Kenya Police Service remains the government department perceived to be most prone to corruption at 31.9% in 2015.

County government departments perceived to be most prone to corruption include the health department at 29.1%, the Land & Physical planning at 14.3% and the Public Service Board at 11.3%.

Actual bribery incidents dropped from a high of 5.83% (Uasin Gishu County) in 2012 to 2.53% (Embu County) in 2015.

Embu County is followed by Kisii County at 2.43% and Bomet at 2.24%.

The average bribe per county has gone up from Ksh 20,075 in 2012 to Ksh 80,000 in 2015.

Mandera County leads with Ksh 80,000 followed by Garissa County with Ksh 51,990 and  Baringo County with an average of Ksh 46,307.14.

The number of times a bribe was demanded fell from 6.5% (Uasin Gishu County) to 3.78% in 2015.

Murang’a County has had a surge in bribe demands leading with 3.78%, followed by Embu County with 2.53% and Bomet County at 2.46%.

Obtaining a tender has the highest bribe given at 275,000 shillings followed by seeking employment at 115,000 shillings and releasing of impounded goods comes third at 33,000 shillings .

31% of Kenyans say they do not report incidents of corruption because they do not know where to report, 23.2% say they fear for their life as well as fear of intimidation, with 18% saying no action will be taken.

62.6%  say most people engage in corruption because of greed.

According to the survey, challenges facing the fight against corruption include lack of political will at 23.60%, fear of victimization of witnesses and whistle-blowers at 18.30% and the notion that it is a culture for people to be greedy and corrupt at 17.30%.

The survey has recommended that elected officials demonstrate credible intent to tackle perceived causes and effects of corruption effectively.