The Oxford English Dictionary defines corruption as “dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.” And in its special meeting convened in May 2023, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations noted that “corruption is a fundamental challenge to sustaining peace and achieving sustainable development.”
This is because corruption has a deleterious effect on the citizens, for when those in power use it for private gain to accumulate illicit wealth, it impedes the delivery of critical services like healthcare, education, and other government services as the funds allocated to these systems are looted.
Despite Kenya’s domineering economic presence in the East African region, corruption is still a major constraint to further development, as evidenced by a surge in reported cases like misappropriation of funds in many government agencies, which affect the implementation of projects aimed at helping the people.
However, the country has made fitful progress and has improved by 31 to 133rd out of 180 countries, in the latest Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, from 154th in 2011 when the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) was formed “to promote integrity and combat corruption through law enforcement, prevention, and education.”
The EACC’s success in countering corruption is attributed to its strategic approach of prioritizing Kenyans in the fight by enabling ease of reporting corruption schemes through their phones (online) and anonymously to protect their identity. Here is how to report any corruption case in Kenya the next time you see a driver greasing traffic police’s palms with a bribe – one of the rampant corruption acts in Kenya.
How to report corruption in Kenya online
Follow these steps to report a corruption case online and lead the fight against corruption by making those in authority accountable for improved public services;
- Visit eacc.go.ke
- At the homepage, click ‘Report Corruption’
- Now select Report Corruption as Anonymus, go to ‘Start Now’
- On the new EACC Business Keeper Monitoring System (BKMS) window, click ‘Submit report’
- Pass the Security Query String by inputting the displayed characters. Hit ‘Continue’
- Choose the category of the corruption case you want to report and press ‘Continue’
- Fill in the details of the corruption case, like location, description and supply the evidence as a document or image
- Click ‘Send’
You have successfully reported a corruption case, and EACC will provide a reference number for follow-up. You can set up a secure postbox for effective communication on the matter with the corruption watchdog.
Corruption can also be reported via email or by visiting in-person the EACC Report Centre, Ground Floor, Integrity Centre, Valley Road/Milimani Road Junction, Nairobi. You can also write to them using the addresses: P.O. Box 61130 00200 Nairobi, Kenya P.O.BOX 82351 – 80100 Mombasa, Kenya, and P.O.Box 438-40100 Kisumu, Kenya.
Since its establishment, EACC has recovered Ksh26.65 billion in embezzled fortune, convicted 293 corrupt officers, and prevented further loss of Ksh135.9 billion to corruption.