Homa Bay MP Peter Kaluma proposes Bill to allow graft convicts to run for office

Corruption convicts may run for office and even get appointed as public officers if a Bill proposed by Homa Bay Town Member of Parliament Peter Kaluma gets a stamp of approval from the August House.

Kaluma is seeking to water down the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act of 2003 by deleting Section 64 of Chapter Six of the Constitution which bars corruption and economic crimes convicts from holding public office. 

The MP argues that a convicted person will have already served the punishment and the 10-year ban was unfair.

Section 64 of the law speaks to the disqualification of persons convicted of corruption or economic crime offences from being elected or appointed as a public officer for ten years after the conviction.

Kaluma’s proposal, which is likely to attract sharp criticism from anti-corruption crusaders, has already triggered a reaction from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

The commission is already concerned that appointed State or public officers who have been convicted for corruption or economic crimes can now be appointed back to the offices they held before conviction or any other public office.

EACC further states that the repeal will take away the deterrence value inherent in the provision since any public officer who may have been keeping away from corrupt conduct fearing the 10-year ban from public office will no longer have anything to fear and corruption may thrive.

It notes that despite their intensified war against corruption, weak legal anti-corruption laws have been the major impediment to facilitating a win and those actions of Kaluma and other MPs whose proposals are aimed at weakening anti-corruption laws will claw back on gains that have been made.