Economy

Hunt for anti-graft boss Waqo’s successor kicks off

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Halakhe Waqo, EACC Chief Executive. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has intensified its search for a new chief executive to succeed Halakhe Waqo, whose term at the helm of the agency comes to an end in less than three months.

Mr Waqo formally took office on January 21, 2013 becoming the commission’s first chief executive since the EACC was established to replace the defunct Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission in 2012.

“His six-year non-renewable term ends in January,” said EACC spokesman Yassin Amaro. “The search for a new CEO is on.”

EACC chairman Eliud Wabukala has in a notice invited applications for the position. The candidates must be citizens of Kenya and possess a post-graduate degree from a recognised university.

“They must also have at least 10 years proven experience at management level and meet the requirements of Chapter Six of the Constitution,” said Mr Wabukala.

Anti-graft campaigners said the new head of the agency must be able to lead the war on graft more effectively even as they described Mr Waqo’s tenure as a “mixed record”.

“Corruption has increased and there have been insufficient prosecutions and recoveries will continue to look like underperformance in the eyes of the public,” said Transparency International (TI) Kenya executive director Samuel Kimeu.

Mr Kimeu added the commission under Mr Waqo had not effectively communicated its successes “where it had achieved them.”

“The public continues to believe that there are no convictions attributable to EACC, but there is a whole database of convictions attributed to EACC.”

Mr Kimeu, however, reckoned that the EACC has struggled with “issues of political will” during Mr Waqo’s tenure. He said Mr Waqo is exiting the commission at a time when President Uhuru Kenyatta has shown greater commitment to the fight against corruption, adding that success or failure of the new CEO will depend on goodwill from stakeholders.

“It is not so much your professional acumen. If you have no support from Parliament, the President, the other legal institutions and the public you fail,” he said.

Kenya has recently witnessed the arrest and prosecution of senior government
and state corporation officials over their alleged role in corruption. The action has, however, been seen to be driven by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) under George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji. Mr Kimeu dismissed perceptions that EACC has been isolated.

“There is enough for the DCI and EACC to do, it’s not a competition until we get to a point where corruption is no longer a way of life,” said Mr Kimeu.

Kenya still ranks among 50 most-corrupt countries in the world, according to the Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI 2017).

Kenya is estimated to lose a third of its national budget — about Sh666 billion — to theft and wastage every year, according to the EACC report of 2016. The agency recovered less than one per cent of stolen public cash last year.

It recovered assets worth Sh256 million out of a possible Sh57.1 billion of public funds it was pursuing in the fiscal year ended June 2017 -- a 63.45 per cent decline from the previous year.

EACC’s annual report of activities only recorded a 0.44 per cent success rate in recovery of public funds and assets, a sharp indication of how far Kenya still has to go in bringing corrupt individuals to book.