The Kenya Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Chairperson Archbishop (Rtd) Eliud Wabukala has launched an integrity and anti-corruption workshop for religious leaders drawn from different faiths in Kakamega County.

The training, launched at the Kakamega Golf Hotel on Monday, November 14, will be implemented in other counties as well, in a bid to equip clergy with relevant skills to participate in the fight against corruption.

“As the moral drivers of our society, religious leaders should lead their flocks into shunning corruption and embracing ethical living,” Archbishop (Rtd) Wabukala said.

The training is intended to empower the clerics to lead their members in understanding corruption, developing values, and responding to corruption.

Mandated to combat and prevent corruption, and promote ethics and integrity in Kenya, there has been debate about whether EACC as an independent agency should have the power to both investigate and prosecute corruption cases. However, that debate and the legislation to give the EACC prosecution power is backed by the Kenyan chapter of Transparency International and others wanting the nation’s corrupt elite prosecuted and convicted; it is bottled up in a parliament and executive where many suspect the integrity of the majority has been compromised.

Recently, we have witnessed a split between the DPP and the DCI over who is to blame in the dismissal of corruption cases at an early stage in the proceeding, pointing clearly to the need to consolidate corruption and prosecution powers in a single agency.