Corruption Is Killing Businesses in Kenya

The recently released and much talked about auditor general’s report clearly indicates that corruption is crippling the Kenyan economy and choking businesses at a fast rate.

As expected, our politicians have come out guns blazing throwing every filthy word at the auditor general but no one has stopped to ask whether the issues raised hold water or not.

Chapter Six of the Kenyan constitution clearly stipulates issues of integrity but the failure on the part of the government to implement this chapter has encouraged the vice to thrive.

Despite notable market reforms that have been aimed to raise the economy of the country, numerous business surveys have revealed that business corruption is still widespread in Kenya.

It is also estimated that companies in Kenya frequently encounter demands for bribes and informal payments to ‘get things done’.

The public procurement sector in this country suffers widespread corruption and if nothing is done about it, then the economy will keep suffering on its current downward trend.

The use of agents to facilitate business operations and transactions in Kenya is widespread and poses a risk for companies, particularly at the market entry and business start-up stage to completely collapse.

Investors who seek to establish businesses in the country have failed to do so due to this vice. Most of them have opted to invest in other nations as a result of the strenuous and illegal process where one is forced to give illegal payments to see every stage of their business move forward.

New entrants into the business world who wish to secure business permits have ended up giving up because they need to give ‘something small’ which is usually not as small as it sounds, in order to attain a business permit.

Initially, corruption was mainly concentrated in the public sector but now the private sector is the worst hit and given the fact that the private sector is majorly the backbone of the Kenyan economy, if corruption keeps going unchecked, the economy will eventually suffer, which ultimately means you and I will suffer.