The introduction to the 2006-07 annual report of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) says: “Corruption in Kenya is deeply rooted and will require skill, diligence and patience to overcome. The vice tends to mutate and change form from time to time with new actors emerging where the old have been vanquished. Also perpetrators of corruption keep developing complex corruption networks locally, regionally and globally.”
The majority of reports of low-level corruption received by the KACC during the year related to police officers in traffic-related incidents. Cases or corruption occurred at all levels of Kenyan society, ranging from junior clerical staff all the way up to government ministers. Some of the matters investigated during the year included improperly awarded contracts, fraudulent payments, misappropriation of funds, and irregular allocation of public property.
Endemic corruption is one of the primary reasons why people living in poverty are unable to benefit from economic growth. Corruption operates like a regressive tax, with a significantly greater effect on the poor than on the wealthy. Corruption also distorts the allocation of public funds away from projects which result in social benefits, and it creates a harmful separation between income-producing activities and activities which make a contribution to economic growth.