Ethics and Anti-corruption commission has released Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) report to the Nandi County executive and assembly.
The aim of the report was to review the systems, policies, procedures and practices of work at the county executive and assembly in order to identify and profile weakness, loopholes, avenues and opportunities leading to corruption.
This is to allow EACC to make recommendations and offer appropriate advice on ways of streamlining the systems and sealing the identified loopholes in order to prevent corruption and enhance service delivery to the people of Nandi.
EACC team led by the Vice Chairperson Sophia Lepuchirit has termed the report as the best they have ever done across 25 counties they have covered.
Speaking during the event, Lepuchirit said that the assessment was rolled out from November 2020 to June 2021 but the report handing over delayed due to Covid-19 outbreak.
“It’s so expensive to be taking people to court on corruption issues. With this report the county executive will be in a position to put policies in place to avoid questions on integrity,” pointed Lepuchirit.
The EACC vice chair lauded the Nandi County Government for not having any audit issues as per the report.
Nandi County Governor Stephen Sang who graced the event said that they have made progress in the past three years he has been in office from disclaimer to qualified reports.
Governor Sang further urged all departmental heads to implement the recommendation as this is an objective of the EACC to the county administration.
“If we implement the recommendation given to us today that will push us to the very final opinion and I am sure that we can work towards a qualified opinion. I want to urge each and every department to take keen interest in these recommendations,” stated Sang.
Some of the weaknesses indicated in the report include lack of structured framework for preventing corruption, inadequate policies, laws, regulations and guidelines to support decision making, insufficient checks and balances, lack of accountability and supervision, insufficient segregation of duties and poor record keeping and information security.
According to the report the recommendations given are achievable, some are short term and others are long-term, among which is the drawing of an implementation plan to be submitted to the EACC in two weeks’ time.
By Judith Jepleting
