The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA-Kenya) has released the findings and recommendations from the study on ‘Disrupting Kleptocracy by Advancing Beneficial Ownership’ in its effort to combat Kleptocracy.
Programme Officer at IEA-Kenya Mr. Stephen Jairo presented the findings on Wednesday, highlighting the study’s core focus on the legal framework governing businesses in Kenya.
“This framework centers on disclosing information about beneficial ownership, which refers to revealing the actual individuals who own or control a company or legal entity,” he said.
Jairo said that the research aimed to bolster strategies supporting the proliferation of transparent beneficial ownership information. The study also aimed to advance ongoing initiatives in this domain by fostering engagement with key stakeholders and media outlets.
IEA-Kenya’s findings indicate that kleptocracy has severe repercussions, undermining economic progress, exacerbating poverty and inequality, and eroding public trust in government institutions.
Jairo said that building robust institutions, fostering independent media, and strengthening civil society organizations are imperative in holding leaders and officials accountable for their actions.
“Among the areas that the study sought to enhance transparency on include; full disclosure of beneficial owners, enhancing the legal framework that governs the BO regime and access and use of the Business Ownership (BO) information,” said Jairo.
He said that sourced from the presentation, movement of illicit funds and investigation of corrupt practices, information is often hidden through complex structures. “This has made it difficult for law enforcement and other authorities to track these practices therefore contributing to high levels of Kleptocracy in Kenya,” Jairo noted.
The Programm officer said in return, enhancing the transparency of beneficial ownership information becomes a key tool against this backdrop as relatively, this makes it easier to identify a true owner of companies and legal entities.
He said that in order to fully combat Kleptocracy, the business registration Services need to enhance awareness campaigns targeted to business units around the country. \
“Either, it should rework the information collection form used in data collection to scale down technical terms. Also, it should enlighten business owners and the benefits accrued by having transparency in BO Information disclosure,” Jairo said.
Jairo said in addition, the Business Community Representatives should educate members on the need to provide beneficial ownership information as well as to work with BRS to scale down technical jargon in the BO information collection form.
“Likewise, the CSOs should create a platform that enhances knowledge on BO information transparency in the country besides enhancing inter-CSO collaborative networks to advance BO transparency initiatives,” he added.
By Okal Kevin and Samson Nkooma
