32 public servants under probe for unexplained wealth

The Public Service Commission said it had received wealth declaration forms from 282 out of 294 public institutions, covering 218,796 workers.

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The Public Service Commission (PSC) has handed over the records of 32 civil servants to investigative agencies, including the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), for amassing unexplained wealth in the year ended June 2024, even as thousands failed to declare their net worth. 

The PSC, which requires public officials to declare their wealth every two years, says it submitted the declaration records of the 32 unnamed individuals after noticing an unexplained jump in their wealth.

The records of the 32 were also shared with the Asset Recovery Agency and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, coming at a time when many public servants have snubbed the wealth declaration exercise.

“The commission released 32 wealth declaration records to investigating agencies---to aid investigations on illicit enrichment and unexplained wealth of some public officers under investigation,” the PSC says in the latest report, which tracks the compliance level of government entities with the values and principles of the Constitution.

The PSC said it had received wealth declaration forms from 282 out of 294 public institutions, covering 218,796 workers.

Some 3,685 did not submit their records, coming in the year when nine State corporations and semi-autonomous government agencies and three statutory commissions and authorities failed to submit their returns.

The institutions whose employees failed to submit their wealth records include the Kenya Industrial Estate, the Nairobi International Financial Centre Authority, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Office of Registrar of Political Parties, Mama Ngina University College and the National Defence University-Kenya.

Under the Public Officer Ethics Act, 2003, public officers are required to declare the income, assets and liabilities of themselves, their spouses and dependent children under the age of 18.

Declarations are made within one month of joining the public service, every two years as scheduled and within 30 days of leaving the service. This is a mechanism to promote accountability and transparency in the management of public resources and as a tool to manage conflicts of interest.

Despite the high compliance rate (98.7 percent) of public servants who submitted the biennial declarations, the PSC notes that the compliance levels for the declaration of income, assets and liabilities was 54.1 percent for those who joined the public service in the review period.

The failure of those entering the public service to make the initial wealth declaration means that agencies such as KRA and EACC will be flying in the dark when it comes to tracking the authenticity of wealth accumulated by such employees over the years in the public service and when they exiting.

The PSC report shows that compliance levels fall further when officers are exiting the service. For instance, less than a third (29.8 percent) of the 2,510 officers who exited public service in the year ended June 2024 complied with the requirement to file a final declaration of assets and liabilities.

The PSC's administrative procedures for the declaration of income, assets and liabilities require authorised officers to institute disciplinary action against officers who fail to submit their declarations within the stipulated timelines.

A 2019 EACC report on wealth declaration listed refusal or ignorance and fear of victimisation by investigating agencies as the top two reasons for those who fail to submit their financial records.

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