Nairobi — The Public Service Commission (PSC) now says public officers risk providing self-incriminating information to investigative agencies if the Conflict of Interest Bill is enacted in its current state.
Commission House expressed its opposition to a proposal in the Bill to make the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) an overall repository for wealth declarations for all public officers.
The Antony Muchiri-led Commission adopted the stance in a presentation made to the National Assembly on Justice and Legal Affairs Committee (JLAC) on Wednesday.
"The information given voluntarily sometimes becomes a subject of a criminal investigation," Muchiri contended.
"Making EACC the repository amounts to making public officers provide information, which could be self-incrimination to an investigator without having cautioned them thus breaching the Miranda rights," he explained
Muchiri asked JLAC members to drop the proposal to make EACC the central repository terming a proposal to repeal the Public Officer Ethics Act unjustified.
The Public Officer Ethics Act provides for the general code of conduct for all public officers and wealth declaration with attendant consequences for breaching the requirements.
Contradicting international law
Muchiri said the proposal contradicts United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCC) and the Public Officer Ethics Act which aims at promoting meritocracy, professionalism, and good conduct in appointment in the public service.
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He pointed out that enacting the Bill in its current state will render all other responsible commissions including the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Judiciary Service Commission (JSC), and Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC), and all the 47 county service boards redundant.
"It does not promote efficiency in dealing with malfeasance related to the Code of Conduct and is against the spirit of UNCC because EACC does not exercise disciplinary control over the public officers," the Public Service boss said.
The Conflict of Interest Bill forms part of legal reforms aimed weeding out corruption from public sector and secure billions of shillings lost annually due to looting of public resources.
Most government officials own private businesses and often use their positions to influence the award of lucrative government tenders to their business or those of their cronies, often leading to the procurement of sub-standard goods and services.
