Combating Corruption through Capacity Building in the Public Service: The Case of Kenya
Corruption has grown into a mammoth monster in Kenya and is, to a large extent, responsible for the high poverty levels and lack of basic services in the country. It essentially is the abuse of public office for private gain. The face of corruption in Kenya includes multilevel embezzlement, extortion, bribery, tribalism, nepotism, fraud, influence peddling, tax evasion, harassment, land grabbing, and dishonesty in procurement. In a World Bank research programme, Kaufmann-Kraay-Mastruzzi Worldwide Governance Indicators rate Kenyas control of corruption at 14％, as compared to 93％ in the United Kingdom and 18％ in Nigeria. In recent days, corruption has seen the donors withhold allocated funds for ongoing projects, including the popular free primary education. At risk are the livelihoods of Kenyas poor who currently make up 44.5％ of the population. Several measures have been put in place to fight corruption by the public service. The most significant is the Public Officers Ethics Act of 2003. This act covers all public officers in mainstream civil service, in local government and in the state corporations. The Government has also put in place the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to both investigate and deal with cases of corruption in the country. More recently, the government has come up with Integrity Testing Measures that is being spearheaded by chiefs of government ministries and other public institutions. This paper presents the results of an on-going survey study on the effectiveness of the current measures put up by government in combating corruption, with specific attention to corruption in the public service. The information is obtained from current government documents and literature, as well as responses from a questionnaire administered at the Kenya Institute of Administration (KIA). KIA trains senior public officers in Integrity, Work Ethics and Professionalism, as well as Good Governance and the Rule of Law, as part of the mandatory Senior Management Course. Participants at KIA were asked to indicate their level of awareness, and use, of the Public Officers Ethics Act, and the measures they are taking to combat corruption at their places of work. They were also asked to indicate the ways in which corruption manifests itself in their various departments, as well as management gaps that result in unabated corruption. Their views were sought on innovative ways of combating corruption. Finally, the study looks at effects of corruption on service delivery from the public officers perspective. The paper will make recommendations on innovative ways of fighting corruption. It will also recommend appropriate capacity building measures to address corruption in the public service, resulting from the outcome of the study. It will be used to inform and improve the Integrity and Governance courses at KIA. In addition to shedding light on the different perspectives of corruption in different government departments, the study will contribute to the fight against corruption, and thereby impact the lives and livelihoods of millions of Kenyans.
BagakaObuya Muthoni M Mwangi
Kenya Institute of Administration P O Box 23030, Lower Kabete 00604 Nairobi, Kenya
国际会议
2010 International Conference on Public Administration(6th)(2010 第六届公共管理国际会议)
澳大利亚堪培拉
英文
683-690
2010-10-22（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）