EACC CEO Twalib Mbarak has urged the media to partner with the Commission in the fight against corruption. Mbarak said the media was in a better place to help the anti-graft agency, considering its role in the country. https://bit.ly/45O0GhO
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 So let's talk about the EACC in the war against corruption.
00:06 And I can say that one of the main focus
00:10 that we've been doing as a commission
00:12 is that because of our number that is small
00:16 and the magnitude of the corruption cases,
00:19 we are trying to do a four-way approach.
00:23 One, the enforcement part of it, and we
00:26 are looking at big cases as opposed to small cases.
00:31 We have a problem of having so many cases that are reported.
00:35 And unlike other organizations like the Syria
00:37 patrol office in the US and UK, where they just
00:40 look at big cases only, even if somebody comes and reports
00:45 about a chief having a bribe, you have to follow it.
00:47 But then you ask, is it possible that with this minimum budget,
00:52 I send officers from Mombasa to go and investigate
00:55 a chief who was arrested for 200 borg.
00:57 And these officers will have to take a statement.
00:59 They'll have to stay for three days.
01:01 And when they come, they'll be paid their money then.
01:04 So we look at grand corruption.
01:07 And we also look at issues to do with asset recovery.
01:13 And the focus now is asset recovery.
01:15 And I want to ask the media--
01:18 now, this is where we are coming from-- how we can partner
01:20 with you people.
01:22 The media will be the first entity that can assist ESC
01:27 in asset recovery.
01:28 You are the people who move around.
01:30 You mix with people on the ground, the citizens.
01:33 And once we partner with you, the issue of asset recovery
01:38 will be very, very successful.
01:41 We are looking at also how we can build capacity
01:43 building to journalists.
01:45 He talked about journalists being sued.
01:49 We know.
01:50 And sometimes it's deliberate to subdue you people
01:53 and to bring down the media houses.
01:55 One thing that I like about the Kenyan media houses
01:58 is that it's very, very neutral.
02:00 We have no problem with media houses.
02:03 Sometimes we have an issue with maybe a certain journalist.
02:08 And when we tell the media houses
02:10 that we think the journalists did not report this matter
02:14 subjectively, we have never taken it to court,
02:16 and we will never do that.
02:17 Because we know the benefits.
02:19 We know the benefits of the media to the ESC.
02:22 I'll give a very good example.
02:24 When I was serving with the ESC in 2006 to 2010,
02:29 I used a journalist in one of the main media houses
02:33 to prevent the hiving of Nairobi National Park,
02:39 where there was a plan to hive 600 acres of Nairobi National
02:43 Park.
02:44 And we were helpless, because the collusion was very, very
02:47 organized.
02:49 It had very good lawyers who were trying--
02:52 I mean, not lawyers.
02:52 I mean, very good planners.
02:58 They went to the survey.
03:02 They looked at the document.
03:04 They went to land office.
03:05 They did a proper research about Nairobi National Park.
03:08 Actually, that is when I knew it is not
03:10 called Nairobi National Park.
03:11 If you look at the title of that place,
03:13 it's called Royal Nairobi National Park, 1935,
03:17 if I'm not wrong.
03:19 So they had planned to move even the beacons.
03:23 Through collusion with land officers.
03:26 And it came as an anonymous report.
03:28 I was the head of the undercover unit.
03:30 So what did I do?
03:32 We could not sue those guys, because they are not committed.
03:35 When an offense is in the offing,
03:37 there's no criminal aspect of it.
03:40 So I got a journalist.
03:42 We explained to him.
03:43 And he gave it a two-page cover letter in one of the print
03:49 media.
03:50 And those guys vanished.
03:52 And that was history.
03:54 Otherwise, if it was not for that journalist,
03:56 600 acres of Nairobi National Park
03:58 were going to be-- it was going to be hiked illegally.
04:02 And whatever they were going to put,
04:04 either as an estate or an industry, nobody knows.
04:09 So partnership with the media is very important.
04:12 And the other thing is that-- how many minutes to go?
04:15 Three.
04:18 Give me five.
04:22 So the other thing that we need to do
04:24 is please give us the support in terms of coverage.
04:30 And we're not saying that we want to be replaced.
04:32 You can critique us.
04:34 Because [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
04:39 So you come and tell us, here you're going wrong.
04:42 Here you're not doing very well.
04:45 [AUDIO OUT]
04:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]