The National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee (NACCSC) is in the process of strengthening its collaboration with other crime fighting agencies in the grassroots with a view to curbing cases of the vice before they happen.
The committee is therefore reaching out to the National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) among other groups, to seek support for the County Anti-Corruption Civilians’ Oversight Committees (CACCOCs) National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) to help them in their tasks of creating awareness against corruption among members of the society.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice Ms. Winnie Guchu when she briefed members of the press outside Machakos County Commissioner’s Office.
Earlier the CAS held talks with the CC Mr. Fredrick Ndunga before addressing members of the local County Anti-Corruption Civil Oversight Committee (CACCOC) at the CC’s Offices on their respective collaborative roles.
The CAS noted that, as the coordinators of government programs and projects, the administrators were privy to activities and information that could be of help in the CACCOCs preventive war against graft.
She said the CACCOCs had an important role to play in the fight against corruption where they create awareness against the vice and conduct social audits of ongoing government projects. She noted that the committees have a member in each sub-county who monitor all the development activities.
“We want to promote preventive measures so that we are able to arrest corruption before it happens,” she said. The CAS said revealing that some of the CACCOCs members had been threatened and intimidated in the course of their work hence the need for them to work closely with County Commissioners who can provide them with security being the chairmen of their respective County Security Committees.
Mr. Ndunga assured the CAS that his office will give the CACCOC the necessary support including sharing of information and providing them with security. “We shall share with them all the status of various projects and cooperate with them on their activities on the projects because we have all the information on the projects,” he added.
He said as the chair of the County Development Implementation and Coordination Committee he had all the data on government projects in the county which he could share with the CACCOCs. The CAS was accompanied by the acting Director of NACCSC David Gathii, Machakos CACCOC chairman Felix M. Daniel and the Regional Coordinator of the office of the AG, Maureen Nyambochwa among other officials.
Mr. Daniel called on the Office of the Attorney General to open offices for the committees across the country to facilitate their smooth operations. “Currently, our offices are the branded T-shirts we wear, so we need offices,” he pointed out adding that members of the public were willing to volunteer crucial anti-graft information to them which was hampered by their lack of a fixed abode.
By Justus Keesi
