This archive report was first published on 14 November 2019.
Kenya's fight against corruption is set to receive a significant boost with a proposed amendment to the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act (Aceca) targeting civil servants convicted of corruption.
Moiben MP Silas Tiren's amendment, currently before the National Assembly, seeks to make individuals involved in the misappropriation of public funds personally liable.
Under the proposed law, those convicted of corruption or economic crimes will be disqualified from holding public office for 10 years immediately after conviction.
"A person convicted of an offence of corruption or economic crime, and was involved in the management of a public company, institution or State organ that suffered pecuniary loss as a result of the corruption, shall be personally liable for such loss," the bill states.
Currently, those who occasion or oversee the loss of public funds are shielded from individual responsibility under the doctrine of collective responsibility in government offices.
The bill has already undergone its first reading in the National Assembly and, if passed, will provide a framework for publishing the names of those disqualified from assuming public offices in the Kenya Gazette at least once every year.
"I urge my colleagues, regardless of their political affiliations, let us pass this law as it is if the change we desire has to be realised," Mr Tiren said.
