Kenya set to impose lie detector test to fish out corrupt officials

President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta has ruled that henceforth government officials must undergo a lie detector test as part of a new crackdown against corruption.

Kenyatta made the ruling while addressing a crowd gathered to celebrate 55 years since Kenya attained internal self-rule.

He said Kenya had to eliminate “corruption in our country before it fully destroys us and the future of our children”.

“Let me now mention just one part of a raft of measures that we intend to implement to tackle corruption,” he said.

“As an initial step, all heads of procurement and accounts in government ministries, departments [and] agencies… will undergo fresh vetting, including polygraph testing to determine their integrity and suitability.

“Those who fail the vetting will stand suspended.”
The ruling by Kenyatta is coming after a probe into an alleged theft of $100 million Which had gone missing from a government agency.

According to Kenya’s chief prosecutor Noordin Mohamed Haji, the probe has been narrowed to 10 banks.

Nine commercial banks and a financial co-operative society have been named as the institutions that police and the central bank are investigating.

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The list of lenders included the East African country’s biggest bank by assets, KCB Group, and Standard Chartered’s Kenyan business.

George Kinoti Kenya’s director of criminal investigations, confirmed the list.

“They will be investigated,” he said, without giving more details.

Lamin Manjang, the chief executive of Standard Chartered Kenya, confirmed that the company was under investigation by “authorised government agencies”.

In a statement, KCB said: “This issue is under inquiry by legally mandated investigating authorities and is a subject matter of a court case.”

Other banks named in the list were Stanbic Kenya, Equity Group, Barclays Kenya, Co-op Bank, National Bank, Diamond Trust, Consolidated Bank and Unaitas, a financial co-operative.

 

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