Wealth Declarations for Public Officials: A Viable Anti-Corruption Strategy for Kenya?

Corruption is pervasive and costly. It increases inequalities and lowers confidence in the government. In Kenya, corruption has been a major setback for development and a barrier to economic growth. Following a political turnover in 2002, several efforts were undertaken in an attempt to tackle rampant corruption in the Kenyan government. In 2003, Kenya was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which led to the introduction of the Public Officer Ethics Act (POEA). The POEA created a system of wealth declarations in Kenya, whereby all public officers and their spouses are required to declare their wealth. Although the legislation was ambitious from the outset, the Kenyan system of wealth declarations has thus far not yielded tangible results in reducing corruption and there are many opportunities for improvement in the implementation process. This report includes an assessment of Kenyan experience in trying to reduce corruption of public officials through wealth declarations and it also provides a comparative study of other countries in order to identify potential factors for success or failure.