The campaign to combat graft is hypocritical, LSK president Faith Odhiambo tells EACC

In Odhiambo's view, the anti-graft body has failed to lead from the front in combating graft because they have always failed to deal with the focal problem and has always operated on the sidelines.

Speaking on Citizen TV's Thursday morning show, she added that failure to deal with the vice from its roots will continue to hamper service delivery which has been present in critical government institutions.

"Processes need to be transparent with timelines. It's high time we use more technology than human touch so that we get proper services," Odhiambo noted.

Despite EACC's commitment to conduct a 100-day anti-graft campaign after releasing a damning exposé detailing the ballooning graft in government institutions, Odhiambo argued that it might fail to put the nip in the bud.

"I find this a bit hypocritical because I feel like one institution that has really failed Kenyans is the EACC because as much as you are saying you are going to run this campaign to what end?" she said.

"I think they should start within and clean up their own system and themselves before they start running a campaign."

On Wednesday, EACC released the 2023 National Ethics and Corruption Survey intimating that the County health department and regular police are the three most bribery-prone public institutions.

The county education departments and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) were found to be among the top institutions one is likely to be asked for a bribe.

The overall national average bribe was Ksh.11,625 in 2023, an increase compared to Ksh.6,865 in 2022.

EACC also found that Kenyans seeking services paid the largest amount of bribes. Ksh.163,260 was paid to secure employment, Ksh.74,428 was paid while applying for a passport, Ksh.20,300 to seek a police abstract, Ksh.17,000 to obtain a tender and Ksh, 12,673 to solve land conflicts.

On average, service seekers paid the largest amount of bribe at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) (Ksh.81,801), the Judiciary at Ksh.49,611 and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) at Ksh.40,000.