Collymore challenges civil servants on wealth disclosure

After setting the pace with his symbolic wealth declaration, Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore has called on all civil servants to publicly declare their wealth to help drive the fight against corruption in 2016.

Mr Collymore said cabinet secretaries are supposed to set the wealth declaration pace, followed by all government officials.

The law requires public servants to declare their wealth every two years, but it is illegal to make the information public.

“It is about setting an example so that we all know what we are working with. We as Kenyans should also figure out what we are doing to deal with corruption and not just leave it to the government,” said Mr Collymore in an interview.

He said President Uhuru Kenyatta “had done a lot to fight fraud” in his tenure and everyone has a responsibility in this campaign.

“People keep going back to the President asking what he is doing but we all know that we now have new legislations with over 300 corruption cases in court today. We have also seen a number of cabinet secretaries who are out of office as a result but citizens also have a role to play,” he said.

Even though the law requires all public officers to declare their assets, income and liabilities, the fact that the information is never been made public makes it difficult to hold any officer to account.

In his declaration last month, Mr Collymore revealed that he receives a monthly average pay of Sh9 million from Safaricom.

He tallied his net assets at nearly $3 million mainly in the form of bank deposits and a house in London, UK.

Mr Collymore was the first private sector executive to publicly declare his wealth, followed by KCB chief executive Joshua Oigara.