EACC says it received 231 corruption cases in 4 North Eastern counties

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has revealed that it received a total of 231 cases of graft and irregular procurement across four counties in the North Eastern region.

EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak made the revelation when he appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights on Friday to present a status report on corruption investigations undertaken in Samburu, Marsabit, Mandera, and Wajir.

According to Mr. Mbarak, Marsabit led with most graft cases at 90, followed by Samburu at 87, then Wajir and Mandera with 32 and 22 cases respectively.

“Based on the commission’s case prioritization strategy which entails prioritization of cases involving high-profile personalities, huge amounts of public money and public interest, the Commission has prioritized 67 high-impact cases in the listed 4 counties which have been completed or are at various advanced stages of investigation,” Mr. Mbarak noted in the report seen by Citizen Digital.

“A total of 9 reports on high impact investigations have been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions with various recommendations out of which, the DPP concurred with the Commission’s recommendation for prosecution of 5 files while in 4 files the DPP concurred with the Commission’s recommendation for closure due to insufficient evidence.”

The 5 files include an inquiry into allegations that Samburu County’s Livestock and Agriculture CECM embezzled public funds during the purchase of tractors, by inflating the cost of a tractor from Ksh.2.5 million to Ksh.6 million.

“On average, EACC receives 9,000 reports per year out of which approximately 3,500 reports fall within its mandate while the rest are referred to other relevant agencies for intervention,” the report added.