President Uhuru Kenyatta is shifting gears in the purge against endemic graft if the proposals he tabled yesterday at the National Anti-Corruption Conference are anything to go by.
His proposal that seeks to keep public officers off private businesses was last night being hailed as a turning point in the purge, even as he announced the scaling up of lifestyle audit to top most levels of his government.
Speaking during the event at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi yesterday, where all stakeholders committed themselves to the fight, the President directed the Attorney General to draft a Bill that will restrain all public servants from privately engaging in activities that are in conflict with or benefit from their officers.
To accomplish this, the President wants the AG’s Bill to interrogate the recommendations of a 1971 report that allowed public servants to engage in private business as long as they maintained professional and ethical standards.
“In line with the proposals made by this forum, I direct the Attorney-General to prepare a Bill that will address the “Question of conflict of interest” and the unintended consequences that arose from the ‘Ndegwa Commission Report of 1971’,” said Kenyatta during the anti-corruption conference.
The Ndegwa Commission Report, initially intended to inject some life into a moribund private sector, has instead been blamed for the broad-day light looting of state resources.
There have been cases of traffic police officers operating fleets of matatus, making it difficult for their juniors on duty to act on them when they are involved in traffic offenses.Moreover, in the ongoing war against corruption, the public has been treated to an eye-watering spectacle where junior workers in some State Departments own properties that are way beyond their income.
But as President Kenyatta explained, the law will prohibit any action by any State or Public Officer that creates a conflict of interest, dual loyalties or an advantage over other persons who do not hold such office.
Every public servants, from Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Senators, Members of National Assembly to teachers and clerical officers will be affected by the new law.