Ruto establishes OP-led 11-member multi-agency team to steer anti-graft fight » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 19 – President William Ruto has unveiled an 11-member multi-agency team to coordinate his administration’s anti-corruption efforts, in a move aimed at tightening the fight against graft and economic crimes.

The Multi-Agency Team on War Against Corruption (MAT), established through a Presidential Proclamation, will be chaired by the Executive Office of the President, with the Office of the Attorney General serving as its Secretariat.

Its membership includes the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Financial Reporting Centre (FRC), Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

President Ruto said the initiative reinforces his administration’s “whole-of-government” approach to fighting graft, promising more coordinated interventions across state institutions.

“The government aims to implement collaborative strategies that ensure more efficient, synergized, and impactful interventions across all arms of government,” the President stated.

The MAT will also engage other state organs and the private sector, identify resource gaps, share best practices, and develop communication strategies to raise public awareness about progress in the anti-graft war.

Extortion rackets

Funding for the team’s operations will come from the budget allocations of its member agencies.

The announcement comes at a time when corruption in Parliament has drawn sharp criticism.

On Monday, President Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga jointly cautioned legislators against turning parliamentary committees into “extortion rackets.”

Ruto accused some lawmakers of demanding millions of shillings in bribes to influence laws and oversight processes, warning that both bribe-takers and bribe-givers would face arrest.

“We are not going to shame them. We are going to arrest them – those giving, those receiving, and those facilitating,” Ruto warned.

Odinga, on his part, noted that while lobbying is a legitimate practice globally, in Kenya it had degenerated into outright extortion, damaging Parliament’s credibility and scaring away investors.

“Lobbying is okay. In the US, you have lobby firms formed to lobby members of Congress. They come to lobby parliamentarians,” Raila said. “But lobbying is a different thing from extortion.”

The President’s proclamation also builds on recent legal reforms, including the enactment of the Conflict of Interest Act, 2025, and amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act, legislation he said had strengthened Kenya’s anti-corruption framework.

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