Columnists

Professional bodies can reduce corruption

BRIBE

The corporate world must show commitment to fighting and punishing corruption. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The private sector, including civil society and religious bodies, are increasingly becoming one of the major players in corruption in this country.

Indeed, with the passing of the Public Private Partnership Act, if the price of engaging in corruption in the private sector is not made harder, we are going to see the worst.

Corruption cannot happen in the public sector without the involvement of the private sector; they are the main suppliers of goods and services to the government and they play a huge role in the game.

While corruption is a global phenomenon and largely associated with the Government, the level of corruption within the private sector warrants serious attention by the companies themselves and investigators and prosecuting agencies.

Ethics agency EACC needs to re-engineer and change tack, for the current strategies cannot cope with the ever mutating corruption.

With the passing of the right to information law, Kenyans including the media (though some of them are major advertisers) must demand information from companies that are doing business of public nature.

The anti-corruption pact recently signed through the Kenya Private Sector Alliance involved a few companies, and the mechanism for the implementation of the charter is loose.

The private sector has not been engaged in a co-ordinated approach to integrate anti-corruption culture in their operations.

Religious bodies must show their annual financial reports and how they dealt with misuse within their midst. They should refuse huge cash gifts into their institutions and question the source of the funds.

Professional bodies including those of journalists, lawyers, accountants, auditors, engineers, doctors, architects must come out strongly to deal with their members who are corrupt.

The corporate world must show commitment to fighting and punishing corruption.