Patrick Obath Chairman, Adrian Kenya; Bill Lay Former CEO, CMC Holdings; Dr Julius Kipng’etich, Regional CEO Jubilee Holdings/Courtesy
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 26 – Business leader and entrepreneurs in the country have called for a more concerted effort in the war against corruption vowing to enhance their commitment in tackling the vice.
Speaking during a two-day conference in Nairobi, Chair of Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Foundation Lee Karuri said the private sector is now coming up strongly to fight the matter that has interfered with their business in the past years.
“Corruption is a threat to the growth of businesses and the private sector is therefore committed to assisting governments root out graft through legislation and public awareness on the vice,” he said.
They have however challenged the government to do more in the war that has focused more on the public sector.
Chief Executive Officer of local based training firm Milestone Resources Fatma El Maawy mentioned that the sector will suffer huge loses if it remains stagnant on graft matters.
“In Kenya, government agencies have largely driven the fight against corruption while the private sector seems to remain silent despite the losses it is experiencing due to graft,” she said.
“Corruption has stifled growth of our small and medium-sized enterprises that provide jobs to our youth, so we need to do something very fast,” she added.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that $1 Trillion per year is lost to corruption worldwide.
A Corruption Risk Mapping and Anti-Bribery Compliance Assessment conducted in November 2018 in the Private Sector by KEPSA and Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) that mapped out 1200 private businesses 85% of respondents reported that there was corruption in various forms in private sector business operations across Kenya.
The forum supported by CIPE and brought together representatives from different African Countries with Speakers from across the globe.
It aims to see raising standards of business practice for efficiency to drive cross border trade, business growth, economic stabilities, and sustainability of SMEs and reduce business & financial risk also making Africa an attractive foreign direct investment destination
