The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has established Corruption Prevention Committees (CPC) in five counties to give impetus to the fight against corruption in the devolved units.
Through partnership with GIZ-Good Governance Programme, the initiative has been rolled out in Kisumu, Vihiga, Siaya, Kakamega, Bungoma and Elgeyo Marakwet Counties.
EACC Commissioner John Ogallo said the initiative targets to strengthen systems, practices and processes at the devolved units.
Ogallo who presided over the presentation of the CPC guidelines to the Kisumu County Executive Ogallo said EACC was banking on the committees to prevent corruption and enhance transparency in county government operations.
The guidelines, he added, provide a systematic approach to public entities and private sector institutions by standardizing the establishment, operation, composition, roles and responsibilities of the CPC.
Ogallo said the committees will be chaired by governors in the pilot counties with deputy governors, county executives and county secretaries as members.
The CPCs, he said, are mandated to develop, implement, review and monitor corruption prevention framework, corruption prevention policy, whistle blowing protection mechanism, gifts and conflict of interest registers, codes of conduct and ethics and reporting mechanisms.
The committee, he added, will also prepare annual corruption prevention plans, coordinate bribery and corruption risk assessments at the same time manage and handle complaints on alleged corruption and unethical conduct.
Ogallo said a training manual for the CPC has also been prepared to provide a standardized approach to the training on corruption prevention.
“The training of CPC is designed to build institutional capacity in corruption prevention, impart knowledge on ethics, integrity and anti-corruption for attitude change, mainstream corruption prevention,” Ogallo said.
EACC, he said will continue to partner with county governments to build their capacity in the promotion of ethics, integrity and good governance adding that the CPC programme shall be scaled up to cover all the counties.
He urged county officials to undertake their responsibilities of serving citizens with a high level of integrity devoid of any malpractice to help safeguard public resources.
The commissioner cited cases of malpractices in employment and ghost workers in counties which the commission was investigating.
“Once the investigations are completed you will see action taken. The EACC is involved in the probing of various cases in Kisumu and Siaya counties. The ongoing investigations will be cleared for prosecution,” Ogallo said.
Kisumu Acting County Secretary Judith Oluoch who received the guidelines on behalf of Governor Anyang Nyong’o reiterated the county government’s commitment to fighting corruption.
The initiative, she said, was set to strengthen the county government’s graft prevention measures calling for collaboration with EACC to tame the vice.
By Rodgers Odondi and Vallary Oyiera
