Business Daily (Nairobi)
3 July 2009
editorial
New findings by an anti-corruption watchdog indicate that public service institutions in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are mired in graft and that this is helping escalate the cost of doing business in the region.
Not that the findings are new to the public, but the potential threat that corruption portends to the revived East African Co-operation appears too real to be wished away.
Graft is a malignant disease to the very fabric of EAC, which was revived in 1999 after a disastrous shutdown in 1977 because of ideological differences and mistrust among member states.
If that is the state we are in then EAC countries will be the laughing stock of other federated blocs if it allows corruption to soil its big ambitions of transforming the region into a common market that would allow for the free movement of labour, capital and goods across the five states.
Other benefits that would accrue from the East African regional integration include a common currency similar to the Euro, which has gained full international recognition after initial doubts by some member states of the European Union.
But of great concern is that graft is escalating within Kenya's public service institutions even after the country put in place mechanisms - such as the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005--to regulate government procurements; the National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee to advise on anti graft measures and the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission to investigate corruption.
Kenya and the other EAC member states need to take a decisive action against public institutions that demand bribes to serve people or businesses that come to the region. Investors pump their money in a country so as to make profits.
The process of making profits usually benefits the local labour force that can be hired to help achieve the profit objective. Graft however does the opposite of the intentions of investors as it reverses profits and hinders further investments in any region.
That is why there is a need for collective action by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which have been mentioned adversely in the report by Transparency International, to weed out graft in public institutions.
It's about time the public institutions realised that they are part and parcel of the business continuity in the region and any demands for bribe can only function to place roadblocks to the smooth flow of investments and business to the region.
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