Douglas
Mwangi Maina
0717834480
Masters
Student -Kisii University
Prof. Ezra Okemwa
Registrar Academic & Student Affairs, Machakos University
Adjuct Lecturer - Kisii University
(SEMINAR PAPER)
Abstract
The
key principles of corporate governance include transparency, accountability and
risk management. Successful implementation of these principles in public
organisations is dependent on the availability of information. In Kenya today
many government organisations do not have qualified records professionals and
the result is the existence of poor records management that are characterized as
fraudulent and corrupt. This paper discusses the role of records management
professionals in fighting corruption in Public Sectors of Kenya. The paper
argues that qualified Records management professionals are crucial in the fight
against corruption because a good records management programme ensures
availability of information that can serve as evidence to identify abuse or
misuse of resources and noncompliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
In addition, good records management practices promote efficiency in the
operations of an organisation by eliminating bureaucracies and other loopholes
that underpin corruption. Using examples from public sectors in Kenya, this
paper attempts to demonstrate the extent to which records management professionals
supports the fight against fraud and corruption. The paper also includes
literature review that corroborates the examples cited. Recommendations are
provided in the conclusion.
Key
words: Accountability;
corruption; governance; records management; Transparency
Introduction
Transparency
International defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for gain. The
International Financial Institutions Anti-Corruption Task Force (2006) defines
a corrupt practice as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting, directly or
indirectly, anything of value to influence improperly the actions of another party
. According to Keorapetse and Keokopa (2012) corruption therefore, involves
illegal and inappropriate actions on the part of officials in public and private
organisations, in which they
inappropriately
enrich themselves and / or their associates, or entice others to do so, by
misusing the position in which they occupy.
Corruption
has various types or categories that include petty corruption that is practiced
by poorly paid public servants; grand corruption which involves theft of vast
amounts of public and private resources; arbitrary corruption where individuals
randomly seek for bribes; systematic corruption where perpetrators are
organised in cartels or in systematic ways as individuals or groups to demand,
extort or commit corrupt practices; political corruption symbolized by an environment
that is lawless; and business or corporate corruption through which impunity
and moral decadence prevail.
The
World Bank (2017) has observed that businesses and individuals pay an estimated
$1.5 trillion in bribes each year, which is about 2% of global GDP and 10 times
the value of overseas development. Hence, according to the International
Monetary Fund (2016), addressing corruption has become increasingly urgent.
This sense of urgency arises in an environment where growth and employment
prospects in many countries remain subdued and a number of many high profile
corruption cases have fueled moral outrage. The urgency is global in nature
since corruption affects both developed and developing countries.
Problem Statement
The
role of records management professionals in preventing and detecting corrupt
practices in public sector of Kenya has been overlooked. Although legislation
for the management of records exists, the requirements for recordkeeping have
not been fully adopted in the country’s public institutions and this obstructs
the fight against corruption.
Purpose
of the study
This
study sought to assess the role of Records Management Professional in fight
against corruption in public sectors of the republic of Kenya.
Corruption in East Africa
The
2016 Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International ranked Somalia
as the most corrupt country in the world. At position 176, Somalia is followed
by South Sudan 175, Burundi 159, Uganda 151, Kenya 145, Tanzania 116 and Rwanda
at 50. The report noted that corruption hurts all countries. In the index’s
lower scoring countries, people frequently face situations of bribery and
extortion, rely on basic services that have been undermined by the
misappropriation of funds and confront official indifference when seeking
redress from authorities that are corrupt. In higher scoring countries, the
situation may seem less obvious in the daily lives of citizens, but closed door
deals, illicit finance and patchy law enforcement exacerbate many forms of
corruption.
Corruption
is a cause for concern because it inhibits national development and prosperity.
The 2014 annual report by East African Development Bank indicated that in
Burundi, government delays with public financial management reforms were likely
to curtail donor support thereby triggering a slowdown in economic growth.
Houreld (2017) reported that the United States government suspended $21 million
in direct aid to Kenya’s Ministry of Health because of on-going concern about
reports of corruption and weak accounting procedures.
Methodology
This
was a conceptual paper which reviewed literature and also highlighted the views
and opinions of the researchers in line with contribution of information
professionals in fight against corruption
Corruption in Kenya
According
to report presented by Samuel Kimeu in ICPAK conference February 2017, Kenyan
government is said to lose one-third of the national budget to corruption –the
equivalent of approximately $6 billion (Kshs.608 billion) every year.
President
Uhuru Kenyatta in an address to the nation also acknowledged that corruption
has progressed to levels that threaten national security.
Audit
reports from the Auditor General’s office have also incessantly given qualified
and adverse audit opinions to government departments at both national and
county levels indicating that many of the financial statements had fundamental
discrepancies/misstatements
The
cost of corruption in Kenya is manifest in political, economic, social and
environmental stratus of the society and takes various forms.
Corruption
excludes poor people from public services and perpetuates negative ethnicity
and exclusion in the famously espoused culture of ‘It’s Our Turn to Eat’.
Corruption
has resulted in Kenya being stagnant with an average Gross Domestic Product
growth of just under 5%, aid dependant, high inflation rates and outstanding
amount of public debt at over Ksh. 2.6 Trillion in 2015.
Kenya has declined in rank as it continues to post a poor score in
the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2016. Kenya scored 26 on a scale
of zero to 100 (with zero perceived to be highly corrupt, and 100 very clean),
compared to a score of 25 in 2015.
It is ranked at position 145 out of 176 countries and territories
included in the latest edition of the CPI. Kenya’s score is below the global
average of 43 and Sub Saharan Africa’s mean of 31.
The County Governance
Status Report 2016 also highlighted that 42% of citizens indicated that
there was widespread corruption and mismanagement of funds at the counties
while six out of ten respondents in the survey described the levels of
corruption as high. Some of the recent corruption scandals as highlighted by
ICPAC report (2017) are:
·
The NYS scandal where Ksh.
791 million payment was suspiciously been made to private companies or lost.
·
Chicken gate IEBC where
electoral officials received over Ksh. 50 millions from foreign campanies.
·
Afya House Scandal – MoH
diverted funds approximately KES 889 million
meant for county government, double payment of goods (approximately KES
515.7 Million), manipulation of the Integrated Financial Management System
(IFMIS), payments of millions of shillings to phony suppliers in the financial
year (2015/2016).
Some of other corruption scandals are
·
The NCPB
maize scandal (KSh 1.9 billion) which KSh 1.9 billion was allegedly stolen in a
conspiracy between the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) officials and
unscrupulous traders
·
The
second National Youth Service (NYS) scandal (KSh 9 billion).
·
Galana
and Mwea Irrigation Scheme scandal (KSh 3.5 billion) The NIB came under sharp
scrutiny after the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) reportedly
discovered the board awarded 15 irregular tenders worth KSh 953 million.
·
The
Chickengate scandal (KSh 59 million) Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in
January 2016 handed over to Kenya a dossier in which a UK security printing
firm, Smith & Ouzman, was accused of bribing IEBC officials to win tender,
prior to the March 2013 general
·
The
Goldenberg scandal (KSh 100 billion) In this scheme, the government allegedly
subsidised exports of gold far beyond the standard arrangements during the
1990s, by paying Goldenberg International, a company owned by billionaire
Kamlesh Pattni and ex-Spy Chief James Kanyotu, 35% more than the country's
foreign currency earnings
·
The
Eurobond scandal (KSh 215 billion) The Eurobond scandal was exposed by the
former prime minister Raila Odinga and later confirmed by the Auditor General,
Edward Ouko, who in 2016 claimed KSh 215 billion could not be accounted for.
Records
Management professionals in fight against corruption.
Records
management professionals’ supports sound records management in public
institutions .Good records and information management specifically plays a
significant role in combating corruption in three main ways: prevention of
corrupt tendencies or fraud, facilitating smooth investigations by
anti-corruption institutions; and providing evidence of transactions (Palmer
2000; World Bank 2000; Mnjama 2003; Kanzi 2010).
a)
Preventing
corruption or fraud
A
lot of resources are saved if corruption is prevented. Mnjama (2003) observes
that there is a direct link between poor records keeping practices and
corruption; among other root causes of corruption is the lack of good records
keeping practices and failure by government or organizations to institute
measures that will ensure that records and information are well managed for
day-to-day business operations. People always look for loopholes in the systems
when they want to commit fraud (Kemoni and Ngulube 2008; Kanzi 2010).
According
to Bendu (2006), economic crime in Sierra Leone cannot be easily proved: ‘‘A
lot of people accused of corrupt practices are often let off the hook because
there are no evidential records and information to prove them guilty of fraud
or embezzlement’’.
This
is because the conviction of a person on corruption matters depends on
authentic, trustworthy records and information as evidence of decisions and
transactions. Proper maintenance and availability of these records and information
is therefore prudent. Effective records management practices are essential to
ensure that there are no loopholes in the system (Australian Council of
Archives 1996). Ghost posts in an organization or institution cannot be
ascertained and the exact expenditure cannot be traced if there are no proper
and accurate records and information (Agere et al. 1999).
Maintaining
procurement records and information is central to avoiding corrupt deals.
World
Bank (2000:5) supports this by asserting that well managed records and
information provide a cost-effective deterrent to fraud and corruption. To
minimize corruption, government and organizations should redirect their focus
towards promoting good records and Information management practices as one of
the corruption prevention strategies, instead of directing a lot of resources
towards investigating and detecting corruption (Kanzi 2010).
This
would make a significant difference, as there would be fewer corruption and
fraud cases to investigate when proper records and information management
systems are entrenched within an organization. The money that would have gone
into investigation, prosecution, recovery of stolen funds and imprisonment
would be saved.
b)
Providing
evidence of transactions
Palmer
(2010) notes that authentic and reliable records can serve as evidence to
identify abuse, misuse and non-compliance with financial institutions and other laws and regulations.
Information professional should make this evidence accessible when needed.
Records
and information provide verifiable evidence of fraud that can lead
investigators to the root cause of fraud. There is no way we can wipe out corruption
without good records management as a point of reference for evidence of
transactions (Okello-Obura 2007; Kemoni and Ngulube 2008)
Most,
if not all, public and private accountability
loopholes
may be traced to poor or non-existent records and information management
systems (World Bank 2000, Palmer 2010). To eliminate scandals and risk of
losses in an organization, the link between accountability and rigorous legal
and financial record and information management must become more pronounced
(Palmer 2010). For records and information management to play a cardinal role
in fighting corruption, the RIM system should be free of corruption itself.
c)
Aiding
EACC in investigations
Records
professionals should assist anti- corruption agencies in investigation as they
understand the records life cycle. This
includes courts, Director of public prosecutor, Director of criminal
Investigation, Auditor general and police . Unfortunately, just like in other
countries, little attention is being paid to the fact that the success of these
institutions depends on the accessibility of complete, reliable and accurate records
(Kanzi 2010).
Without
good records and information, meaningful audits cannot be carried out as the
records are the source of the information required by the auditors and
investigators. Palmer (2010) states that ‘‘the role of a records and
information
management
system is that it acts as a control system that reinforces other control
systems such as internal and external auditing’’. The records themselves can
serve to detect fraud and recover the loss. Discrepancies or loopholes can be
detected in the process of scrutinizing records and available information
(Palmer 2000; Okello-Obura 2007). Corruption creates an environment
that
allows opportunities to commit fraud, but once fraud is detected, records can
provide a trail for investigators to track the root of corruption (Palmer 2000;Mnjama
2003; Kemoni and Ngulube 2008; Kanzi 2010).However, for records to be useful in
this capacity, they must be well managed and accessible at all times by
authorized users hence need for qualified records professionals.
For
records management professional to achieve the above in fight against corruption,
they must ensure the following
1.
Establishing
sound records management systems and standards. The
value of a Records and information management system is that it acts as a control
system that reinforces other control systems such as internal and external
audit (Palmer 2010). The creation and implementation of standards for records
systems and document formats is crucial for identifying fraudulent documents
and detecting gaps in records sequence. The inaccessibility or lack of
documentary evidence results in increased opportunities for corruption and
fraud to flourish (Palmer 2010).
2.
Establishing
a strong records management audit trails system. A
well organized registry Record system should track the movement of current
records throughout the organization. The audit trail system helps to reveal any
intentional or accidental unauthorized actions carried out on records like
tampering, theft and loss. Authentic, reliable Records provides an unambiguous
link between an authorization, a particular assigned person and a date, which
can serve as evidence to identify abuse, misuse and non-compliance with laws
and regulations (Palmer 2010).
3. Designing and implementing policies
and procedures for managements of electronic records. The
potential for corruption and fraud in the electronic environment is greater
because electronic records can be easily lost, overwritten, erased or rendered
inaccessible, are media independent, hardware and software dependent, randomly
located, easily duplicated and stored on potentially unstable media, etc.
(Palmer 2010). In some
organizations, the work is entirely left with information technology
specialists or computer experts with little or no knowledge of records
management. This makes the whole process of e-record management to be run
unprofessionally, opening avenues to corruption and fraud
4. Maintain high level of integrity .
Perpetrators of crimes involving corruption have often amassed a lot of wealth
and can easily compromise personnel who works in the registry. This of course
affects the quality of investigation, prosecution and adjudication of
corruption cases
Records
and information management professional need opportunities to work with
organizations in investigating methods to curb corrupt and fraudulent
activities. Together they can develop, improve and strengthen systems to
provide the evidence needed to expose corruption and ensure accountability. A
strategy for keeping practical, productive records systems must therefore
underpin anti-corruption strategies. Strategic Records and information
management for accountability and fight against corruption, as noted by Baraga
et al. (1999) should entail:
a) Training
Records and information managers to identify and control breeder documents and
recognize situations where opportunities exist for fraud and corruption.
b) Developing
core competencies in maintaining records and inculcating professional ethics
among records and information managers.
c) Standardizing
systems and document management formats to encourage a climate conducive to
keeping and using records properly within organizations.
d) Ensuring
that records schedules, records inventories, registry lists, disaster plans,
appraisal criteria, national or international standards, descriptive standards
documentation, guidelines for the development of finding aids and professional ethics
documents are available.
e) Developing
awareness raising workshops and training for anti-corruption groups, parliamentary
committees responsible for public accounts accountability, auditors, etc. in
how records can be manipulated and misused and on the need for a living wage
for RIM managers. This is supported by Baraga et al. (1999), who note that
educating public officers about the value of maintaining secure, authentic and
reliable public financial records is important for fighting corruption in any
country.
f) Effective
records and information management programmes. A comprehensive Records and
information management programme encompasses
a multitude of disciplines. To ensure that an organization achieves this, the
following elements should exist to ensure a complete programme: records
appraisal, retention and disposition scheduling, vital records, disaster
planning and recovery, forms management, management of active records systems
(including directives and reports), records storage and archives management (Baraga
et al. 1999).
Conclusion
Corruption,
with its adverse effects, is on the increase in both public and private
sectors. Good records and information management plays a significant role in
deterring the corruption effect and is a preventive, cost-effective alternative
to the prosecution of corrupt and fraudulent persons in any country. Even
records managers sometimes facilitate corruption by acting unprofessionally and
not following the appropriate Records management procedures. For organisations to
ensure that corruption is eliminated, records and information management
professionals need to learn more about the nature and characteristics of
corruption and fraud in an organization. Efficient and effective Records
management and management commitment is the solution for corruption and fraud
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About the Author
Douglas Mwangi Maina is a Masters student in the school of Information Science and Technology, Kisii University, Kenya. He is an archivist and a Certified Records Management Analyst (CRMA) and also hold CPA(Sec 4). You can reach him on 0717834480. Email:mainamwangi1989@gmail.com
