Kenya leads East Africa in composite anti-corruption and public finance management scores but continues to struggle with weak legislative enforcement and implementation gaps, a new regional report by Transparency International (TI) has revealed.
The findings were presented by James Kinyua, TI-Kenya’s Project Officer for Public Finance Management, during a regional multi-stakeholder forum held in Naivasha by Transparency International evaluating accountability frameworks across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.
Speaking during the discussions, National Taxpayers Association (NTA) Chief Executive Officer Patrick Nyangweso emphasized the urgency of public accountability, noting: “Confusion is not created by transparency; confusion is created by the gap that transparency was meant to fill.”
Nyangweso further cautioned that systemic discrepancies in resource management risk eroding public trust if implementation gaps are left unaddressed.
The comprehensive review assessed member states across four core thematic pillars: Access to Information, Beneficial Ownership Transparency, Asset Recovery, and Whistleblower Protection.
While Kenya secured the highest overall composite score in the region at 3.3 out of 5 followed closely by Tanzania (3.1), Uganda (2.9), and Rwanda (2.9) experts warned that robust legal statutes on paper often fail to translate into effective enforcement.
The four core pillars examined
Asset Recovery (Kenya’s Strongest Pillar): Kenya recorded its highest individual score of 3.7 out of 5 in asset recovery, bolstered by dedicated agencies like the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) and numerous high court forfeiture rulings. However, Kinyua noted that coordination hurdles and institutional silos continue to impede seamless execution.
Access to Information: Backed by Article 35 of the Constitution and the Access to Information Act of 2016, Kenya demonstrates strong judicial enforcement. Despite these frameworks, public uptake remains low, and bureaucratic delays in responding to information requests persist.
Beneficial Ownership Transparency: While Kenya maintains a central business register through the Business Registration Service (BRS), compliance levels stand at roughly 57%, leaving a 43% deficit. Experts noted that heavy reliance on self-declaration and restricted public access continue to limit transparency.
Whistleblower Protection (The Weakest Link): Whistleblower protection scored lowest across all four countries. Kenya currently lacks a standalone Whistleblower Protection Act, leaving reporters of corruption vulnerable to intimidation, professional fallout, and a lack of institutional safeguards.
Workshop participants noted that regional cooperation is vital for curbing cross-border illicit financial flows (IFFs), money laundering, and extractive sector corruption.
Stakeholders urged the Kenyan legislature and civil society organizations to push for peer learning with top-performing neighbors such as adopting Tanzania’s live register framework or Uganda’s whistleblower reward mechanisms to bridge existing implementation gaps.
TI-Kenya called for concerted multi-agency collaboration, moving beyond nominal legal compliance to enforce stringent penalties for non-compliance, safeguard public resources, and protect civic reporting channels.
