EACC Chairman Philip Kinisu says the commission will focus mainly on asset recovery, corruption mapping and enhanced collaboration with various government agencies fighting the graft among other measures/FILE
EACC Chairman Philip Kinisu says the commission will focus mainly on asset recovery, corruption mapping and enhanced collaboration with various government agencies fighting the graft among other measures.
“We are aware that the state of corruption in the country is not good as confirmed by our research surveys and Transparency International’s Annual Corruption Perception Index,” he regretted.
The first priority, he said will be to review the methodologies and ways of working.
“As a strategy, enforcement will be accorded greater emphasis, as a deterrent measure,” he revealed. “This will entail devoting more resources to enforcement activities.”
The commission will also utilise more effectively, “the recently adopted multi-agency team approach.”
Under this, various cases will have a common approach from all institutions involved investigating among them like the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
He further says EACC will emphasise on prevention programmes such as system reviews which will also entails lifestyle audits.
“The message is clear, you steal resources and there will be nowhere to hide it,” he warned.
The commission will use research to map corruption prone sectors, “so that clear action plans can be implemented targeting such areas.”
There will also be public awareness and sensitisation on corruption to ensure more participation by the public and stakeholders in the war against the vice.
Other deterrent measures will include vetting people appointed in various public offices.
“The commission has developed Regulations to operationalise the leadership and Integrity Act, which is meant to raise ethical standards in public service,” he said.
On issues of responsibility, the commission will be going for the heads of organisations under the new strategy.
Kinisu observed that the current legal framework also “needs continuous review towards strengthening.”
He admitted that the commission’s public image has eroded but pointed out that the anti-graft agency is under staffed and has meagre resources despite its enormous responsibilities.
He attributed this to a huge backlog of cases but says an improved mechanism is being adopted in order to deal with them expeditiously and effectively.
The commission receives more than 5,000 corruption cases every year with Kinisu projecting that the number may increase in 2016.
Even with this, he is optimistic that the war on graft will be revitalised.
The commission plans to increase its workforce form the current 500 to the proposed 2,300 workers.
Having learnt from previous commissioners, Kinisu said they will work as a team in a bid to seal all loopholes that may lead to sluggish delivery of justice.
Under Kinisu, the commission will not be issuing ‘statements’ on mere allegations that have not been substantiated.
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