Kenya
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media from political partisans and reducing activities in political advocacy. There remain concerns, however, that competent determination of claims may not be maintained if the Media Council finds itself either denuded of resources or if the resources it has are derived from the media industry, leading to possibilities and/or perceptions of bias. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendment) Bill, agreed on 11 October 2007, vests the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) with powers akin to those of the police, including the power to arrest and detain suspects and seize fraudulently obtained property. The Licensing Laws (Repeal and Amendment) Bill, agreed on 11 October 2007, proposes amendments to fifteen acts and is intended to fine-tune the business-licensing regime in Kenya. Over 140 different licences that were previously essential have been abolished altogether. According to the Kenya Bribery Indices, excessive regulatory requirements such as licensing create widespread opportunities for bribery in the attempt to avoid compliance. The Political Parties Act, agreed on 20 October 2007, seeks to monitor and regulate political party financing and internal party management. It represents an excellent opportunity for monitoring compliance. The Supplies Practitioners Management Bill 2007 regulates the training, licensing and practice of supplies practitioners. It addresses loopholes in the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 by, inter alia, restricting public procurement practice to procurement professionals. The Constituencies Development Fund (Amendment) Bill 2007 amends the Constituencies Development Fund Act 2003 by, inter alia, expanding the scope of spending to cover the purchase of machinery and equipment, environmental programmes and student bursaries. Although the prior restriction of
spending to infrastructure projects made it easier to cost-verify, the current amendments may now provide greater scope for concealment and/or the diversion of funds. ● The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) and National Accord Reconciliation Bills, both agreed on 18 March 2008, created a coalition government between the Orange Democratic Party and the Party of National Unity and, notably, established the positions of prime minister and two deputies. While the arrangement can be said to have prevented a continued and total breakdown of law and order in the immediate term, it has perhaps inadvertently culminated in the absence of an effective opposition. This severely compromises parliament’s oversight role over the executive. Currently, all MPs save for one, Cyrus Jirongo, the MP for Lugari, belong to parties affiliated to the ruling coalition. The possibility that civil service jobs are to be allocated following party loyalties greatly affects independence from political influences and complicates the oversight role of parliament.1 ● The Ministry of Lands published the final draft of a National Land Policy on 14 August 2007. The document acknowledges land as a politically sensitive and culturally complex issue and is intended to regulate human settlement, clarify the broad agenda of land ownership and encourage the sustainable and equitable use of land. The main issues addressed by the policy are: land tenure reform, establishing ‘secure and formalised property rights in land for all Kenyans’; and property redistribution, relating to ‘access to land by the landless and disadvantaged groups’. Significantly, the provision of ‘redress to those who were dispossessed of their land as a result of past discriminatory laws or practices will go some way in combating the corruption that has always engulfed transactions involving land’.2
1 The Standard (Kenya), 21 April 2008. 2 See www.kenyalandalliance.or.ke, ‘Draft National Land Policy: A Call to Debate and Critique its Policy and Provisions’.
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