Odious Debts Online

April 8, 2005

The first Pan African Forum on accountability and good governance was held in Kenya this week to look at decreasing international corruption and strengthening judicial independence.

Co-hosted by the UK-based Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body of
the Commonwealth of Nations comprised of 54 member governments, the
three-day conference, which ended on Wednesday, also addressed the poor
relationship between the Kenyan Judiciary and its Executive.

A relationship aired in public when Kenya’s Chief Justice, Evan
Gicheru, who closed the conference, began his address by complaining
that the Judiciary was not even consulted over the forum, The Nation
reports.

“I wish to register at the outset, my personal regret that the Kenyan
Judiciary was not adequately consulted and involved in the preparation
of this forum,” Mr. Justice Gicheru is alleged to have said to the
amazement of the delegates at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Nairobi,
in the presence of Justice Minister, Kiraitu Murungi, whose ministry
handled the preparations.

Mr. Gicheru said had the Judiciary been consulted, its contribution by
way of planning and presentation would have been of greater impact, The
Nation reports.

According to Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, one of the “greatest
problems” African countries have faced is the lack of a clear
separation of powers between the three arms of government, the
Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

“This is one of the core sources of poor governance, corruption, and
political instability in various nations. In Africa, especially during
the past decade, over-concentration of power in the executive seriously
undermined the operations of the other organs of government,” he said.

In recent months, corruption in Kenya has come under renewed scrutiny
and attack by the international lending community which has warned
President Kibaki his government must prove it is acting on graft
allegations or risk jeopardizing international assistance it can
ill-afford to lose. A prolonged economic stagnation has taken its
toll, increasing the number of Kenyans living under the poverty line
to more than 15 million or 56 per cent of the population.

The Nation reports a communique issued at the end of the forum on
Wednesday, called on the Commonwealth Secretariat to help enact new
laws to curb “the looting of wealth” and a code of conduct for MPs in
commonwealth member-states.

The communique recommended legislation to prevent and punish
corruption must also include the recovery of embezzled funds; penal
codes that ensured officials would be held to account for possessing
wealth and income from unknown sources; financial disclosure laws and
codes of conduct to deter officials from amassing wealth through
illicit means.

In the case of Kenya, the new directives may help to reassure the
international donor community, provided President Kibaki’s government
acts fast to implement reforms.http://allafrica.com/stories/200504070155.html