Corruption and Local Governance in Kenya

The author is a political Scientist/Policy Analyst by training. He currently holds M.Phil. Public Administration from the University of Bergen, Norway.

The phenomenon of corruption is an everyday practice in the rural Kenya. However, corruption as a practice seems to suffer from two setbacks that inhibit efforts towards its reduction at the grassroots: Firstly, low scale corruption is more practiced, talked about and normal than it is actually documented in the public sector or captured in the media reports. Secondly, grand cases of corruption have tended to overshadow the focus on the widespread low scale corruption that directly affects the common citizen across the country. Thus, the existing scientific information on how corruption is perceived, practiced and how such practices are covered up by actors is still below our expectations. This book addresses these issues. It presents rare data in corruption research by describing how low scale corruption is organized in the local government/low level public sector. It shows how public officials and members of the public engage in the acts seen as corrupt, and discusses the contribution of each group the mutual practice of corruption in the sustenance of corrupt practices in the public sector. This book is part of the efforts to reduce corruption in the Kenyan public sector