Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta publicly declared on television that corruption had become a national security threat. He then proceeded to unveil a string of tough measures to tackle the pervasive graft in the country.
Among other things, the President announced that all companies doing business with county and national governments in the future must sign and adhere to a business code of conduct; all customs and revenue officers will be mandated to undergo a vetting exercise, and banks that are discovered to break anti-money-laundering laws will forfeit their banking licenses while their directors will be held culpable for abetting money laundering.
President Kenyatta’s 2013 campaign against corruption came on the heels of the 2013/2014 Auditor General’s report for Kenya which provided insights into the gross financial impropriety and mismanagement of public funds by government officials
Some of the most outrageous expenses in government offices that have ever come to light. In its ornate spending, one county government is said to have paid $11,650 as consulting fee for opening and maintaining the county government’s Facebook account while another county purchased 10 wheelbarrows at $1,050 each. One ministry is implicated in buying a TV set and desktop computer at $17,000 and $11,000 respectively, more than ten times the cost at the swankiest electronic stores in Kenya.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Kenya’s anti-corruption body, said 70% of all corruption in the country is related to procurement. In Kenya today, the most lucrative business opportunities are now government procurement contracts, unpacking a bundle of entrepreneurs either supplying goods or services at inflated prices or cashing in on fictitious tender supplies and purchases. Identified in the Kenya social media circles as “Tenderpreneurs” a portmanteau word of “tender” and “entrepreneur” – many of these entrepreneurs are known to be business proxies of politicians and senior government officials.
Del Monte, an American company that produces fruit juices, went to court challenging the revocation of its 22,500-acre land lease renewal revoked under unclear reasons. Unilever Kenya, which exports tea, and Dominion Farms, a company owned by American businessman Calvin Burgess, were also facing similar threats of license revocation without any plausible reason.
