Off the wire
• Giant panda cub dies 5 days after birth  • Xinhua Insight: China's hospital wards haunted by violence  • Indonesian minister welcomes Chinese youth delegation  • Kenya urges African audit institutions to embrace competence  • IS claims deadly car bomb attack in Iraq's Baghdad  • Turkey vows to use "all alternatives" to fight IS along borders  • Route linking Lanzhou, Kathmandu begins operation  • 66 dead, 10 missing after heavy rain in S China  • China to pilot new family law procedure  • Supporters of DR Congo opposition leader dispersed by police  
You are here: 　 Home

Kenya's private sector body decries high level of corruption

Xinhua, May 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenya's local private sector umbrella body KEPSA on Wednesday decried the high level of corruption in the country.

Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) CEO Carole Kariuki told a media briefing in Nairobi that corruption has been identified as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development in Kenya irrespective of whether it is perceived or real.

"The extent of the devastating effects of corruption on Kenya's economic development is huge such that no development plan has missed it in the top priority challenges to be addressed," Kariuki said.

High levels of corruption have had a negative impact on Kenya's global perception, she said, adding that both the Global Competitiveness Index 2015 and the World Bank's 2014 Enterprise Survey on Kenya ranked graft as the top concerns for businesses operating in Kenya.

"As the private sector umbrella body, KEPSA understands best how corruption stifles the development and economic growth of Kenya," she said.

The CEO noted that the vice has multiple negative effects on the efficiency of businesses and the economy as a whole. "It increases the cost of running businesses as it acts as an additional tax to businesses," he added.

Experts have noted that an improvement of the corruption index of a country by one standard deviation leads to an increase of the investment rate of the country by more than four percentage points.

Corruption is normally perceived as public sector affairs. "However, the private sector is the supply-side of most corruption especially in public procurement," Kariuki said.

In order to play a role in reducing corruption, KEPSA is undertaking a number of initiatives in order to promote integrity and ethics.

The private sector body has championed the adoption of the code of ethics for business under the Global Compact Network Kenya. "So far 400 companies have signed up to the code of ethics," the CEO said.

Kariuki observed that in order to give credence to the code of ethics, the private sector has sought the intervention of the president to ensure that government only procures from companies that have signed up to the code of ethics. Endit