Global Policy Forum

By Eric Shimoli and Muriithi Muriuki

Three government departments have been ranked as the most corrupt in Kenya in a dramatic new national survey. Kenya Police top the bribery league followed by the Ministry of Public Works and the Immigration Department. Mombasa Municipal Council emerges as the public office where a bribe is most likely to be demanded, according to the survey by the Kenya Chapter of Transparency International. It is followed by the Prisons Department, Ministry of Lands and the Attorney General's Chambers, in that order.

Ministry of Public Works employees demand the biggest bribes – averaging Sh37,500 a deal, followed by officials of embassies and international organisations, who demand an average of Sh36,800. Local government officials take the smallest bribes, an average of only Sh110. Notable in the overall bribery list is the Judiciary, which ranks 6th among the most bribery-prone institutions. If corruption could be wiped out the overall salaries of Kenyans would increase by 30 per cent, said Mr David Ndii, who conducted the research for Transparency Kenya.

Dubbed the Kenya Urban Bribery Index, the survey was carried out by Transparency Kenya in March and April last year across Nairobi and five towns: Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nyeri and Machakos. Ordinary Kenyans, who reported their daily encounters with corruption, were asked who they bribe, with how much money, and for what.

Respondents were asked how many times they were asked to bribe officials in the public and private sector before being served, plus whether service sought was delivered where bribes were not paid, and if the quality of service diminished with a refusal to pay. The questions concerned only monetary bribes, however. It omitted any reference to bribery by offering services or favours.

Law enforcement agencies, including the police, Judiciary, and the prisons departments fared poorly in all the six areas of the study. The survey shows that most people seeking help from the police have to pay a bribe to be served. Only one out of 10 people who regularly deal with the police can expect to get proper service without paying. But the bribes are small, averaging Sh631.

Forty-one per cent of those interviewed said they had to pay a bribe to be served in the Ministry of Public Works. The Central Bank of Kenya is ranked the least corrupt organisation, beating foreign embassies and even the private sector. Only 0.2 per cent of the respondents said they had encountered demands for bribes when dealing with the CBK, compared to 5.6 per cent who said they had been asked to bribe officials in the private sector and 22.4 per cent who had to corrupt staff of international organisations and embassies to be served. CBK employees are among the best paid public officers. Corruption may have declined there with the removal of foreign exchange controls in the early 1990s, leaving the bank with largely supervisory duties.

Mombasa town council which tops institutions with the worst bribery incidence in the country – the place where one is most likely to encounter bribery - had an incidence rate of 91.6 per cent, closely followed by the police and prisons department, which tie at 90.4 per cent. This means that the likelihood of getting satisfactory service from the three without paying a bribe is less than 10 per cent.

The Ministry of Lands and the Attorney-Generals Chamber's follow closely in that order. After the Ministry of Public Works and officials of embassies and international organisations, immigration officials rank third in the size of bribe they demand: an average of Sh12,000 for each transaction. Judicial officers come fourth with Sh10,000 and Kenya Airports Authority fifth at Sh9,700.

The Kenya Urban Bribery Index, the first by TI-Kenya, reports that over one third of the organisations in the index have a bribery incidence of 75 per cent. Thirty-six organisations, about two thirds of the total, were found to have a bribery incidence of over 50 per cent. According to the report, only four institutions rank below 25 per cent. After the Central Bank of Kenya, the private sector is the next most favourably ranked, followed by Kenya Wildlife Service. In bribery prevalence, the police topped the ranking. This means that six out of ten urban residents pay bribes to the police or are mistreated or denied service if they do not. They were followed by Nairobi City Council, Telkom Kenya, the Provincial Administration and Kenya Power and Lighting Company. Again, the Central Bank of Kenya is the most favourably ranked organisation on this indicator, with only 0.1 per cent of the respondents citing bribery encounters. It is followed by the Kenya Wildlife Service and the University of Nairobi. The Ministry of Finance, Kenya Tea Development Agency, and the Catering Levy Trustee are tied third .

An interesting revelation in the report is that Kenyans lose more money through petty bribery than through the theft of public funds, annually documented by the Controller and Auditor-General.

Mr David Ndii, who conducted the research, said the kitu kidogo (something small) syndrome was a bigger malaise than theft by civil servants and parastatal workers. Webuye MP Musikari Kombo, who attended the function, asked the government and civil society to use the report as a basis for fighting graft. However, he said he expected the government, "as usual", to trash the report.

The launch was attended by Mr Ahmed Abdalla, director of IT-Kenya, and Mr Swaleh Slim, head of the newly revamped police anti-graft squad. The three-man British team recently recruited by the government to fight graft - Mr Bill Waite, Mr Graham Stockwell and Mr Stephen Krame - also attended the launch.

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