Written by Leonard Wamalwa 2012-06-23 12:21:00 Read 372 Times

A section of stakeholders at the forum. Photo: Leonard Wamalwa 

Residents of Trans Nzoia have listed the police, road construction committees and Constituency Development Funds-CDF as the bodies where corruption is prevalent, this happens as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Committee gets down to its duties.

Mrs. Jane Muthaura the acting chief executive officer of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption coordinating committee told journalists during a Kenya integrity forum in Kitale that residents had raised an outcry on various aspects that have had the vice promoted immensely.

The meeting was held at the Kitale Museum whereby all stakeholders including administrators, politicians, the civil society and other groups were represented.

“We have had numerous corruption complaints from the stakeholders in this forum on the police, the CDF and the road construction committees,” said Muthaura.

Challenges.

She noted that despite the members of the public knowing about such cases of corruption, they never come out to the commission or other relevant government departments to report.

The CEO added that the same members of public are never free to go and testify in cases of corruption before the courts despite being privy of the vices hence hamper the achievements anticipated by the body.

.Despite the challenges, the body is geared towards wiping out the vice though it might take a relatively longer time according to Muthaura.

She has called upon Kenyans at large to fully support the commission in its mandate at all costs through reports and other necessary support that is aimed at the same goal.

“The more the members of the public come out to the open to condemn corruption, the faster the war will be won, but as long as they are complacent and continue collaborating with the people involved in corruption then we might not even win,” she pointed out.

The Commission, she said has launched educational forums across the country to sensitize and empower people on corruption and governance issues affecting the country.

Muthaura singled out poor reporting, failure by witnesses to turn up to court to testify against perpetrators of corruption and the security of the commission’s officers as the major challenges or rather bottlenecks to the war against corruption.

She encouraged the use of the internet by Kenyans to report incidents of corruption to the commission at all levels.

“As a commission we can only achieve our objectives with the support from the public. I encourage Kenyans to use all avenues including cyber cafes to report corruption cases,” Muthaura appealed.

 At the same time the commission has pledged to guard integrity and put on notice aspirants seeking elective positions in the General Elections whereby the commission officials have warned that they would not allow candidates to skip the integrity test as enshrined in the new constitution.

Muthaura urged the public to lobby for the registration of the integrity Bill to ensure the election of credible leaders in the coming General Election.

The Kenya Integrity Forum is an annual event that is aimed at sharing with the members of public on the war against corruption to know what the various sectors are doing in the war against corruption.

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