Claire Daams

Punishing corruption in Kenya

On 27 January, 2016 an Anti-Corruption Court in Nairobi convicted a public officer who worked as an accountant/cashier at the Ministry of Special Programs in Kenya. The officer was found to have embezzled funds that were allocated for specific donor funded water projects and was convicted on two counts: fraudulent acquisition of public property count 1 and forgery count 2 but was acquitted on a charge of abuse of office. The officer was sentenced to three years jail each for count 1 and 2 plus a fine of Kshs 60,000, which if unpaid will result in an additional 6 month jail sentence. The sentence meted is considered severe by some given that the accused has to serve the sentence and pay the fine as an additional punishment.