Civil servants face Sh1m fine over false wealth declarations

Public servants risk a Sh1 million fine or a jail term of one year if they fail to declare their wealth ahead of the December 31 deadline.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) says that all the 842,900 government, county and parastatal workers must start declaring their incomes, bank deposits, assets like land, real estate and vehicles from Friday.

State workers who will provide incomplete and inaccurate information in their declarations face similar punishment in a move meant to discourage public servants from engaging in graft, which has become endemic in government.

Civil servants are also expected to reveal their liabilities like bank loans.

“The public officers are required to fill the declaration form from November 1, 2019 and submit to the authorised officer on or before close of business on 31 December 2019,” said PSC in a notice copied to public officers in ministries, departments and all State corporations.

“The public officer will take personal responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of the information submitted to the commission,” it said.

Presently, public officers are expected to declare their wealth every two years, but the information contained in the wealth declaration forms remains confidential and can only be accessed by those in pursuit of public interest.

But a Bill before Parliament aims to remove restrictions on Kenyans seeking to access information on income, assets and liabilities of persons holding public offices.

Analysts say that restricted public access to wealth declaration forms — which have been in place since 2003 — has done little to discourage public servants from engaging in graft or promote accountability and transparency.

The last wealth declaration was done in December 2017.

Those involved in business and consultancy will be required to provide details of contracts for the supply of goods and services as well as their value.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has over the years backed lifestyle audits on holders of public offices to curb corruption, which former EACC chair Philip Kinisu estimated in March 2016 gulped about a third of the national Budget every year.

Mr Kenyatta in mid-June 2018 said all public servants, including himself, would be subjected to lifestyle audits to catch and root out those who had stolen from taxpayers using their offices.

This came two weeks after he temporarily asked all heads of procurement and accounting units in ministries, departments, agencies and State corporations to step aside to pave way for fresh vetting.

The Treasury in June this year disclosed that only 552 officers were cleared and reinstated in the exercise, further disclosing that all the officers remained on full salaries. The review of the wealth disclosure law seeks to increase transparency in the public sector and curb the practice where influential State employees enrich themselves through scandals involving bogus tenders and suppliers.

Dozens of Kenyan government officials and business people have appeared in court on charges relating to the alleged theft of hundreds of millions of shillings from public coffers in a new drive to tackle widespread graft.