CORRUPTION EATING INTO OUR ECONOMY.

As i'm posting this (today, 15th Nov. 2006), Hon. Kiraitu and Prof. Saitoti have been re-appointed to the ministerial posts (Energy and education respectively) before Anglo-leasing and Goldenburg scandals are finalised.

Rampant corruption in Kenya continues to stifle growth in East Africa's biggest economy, despite the enactment of key reforms in recent years, a continental review body said on Tuesday.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) said Kenya also needed to overhaul its outmoded constitution after previous attempts were stalled by political posturing and acrimony among the country's political parties.

"Kenya has had, and continues to have, a significant and debilitating problem of corruption," said the APRM report, which was submitted to the Pan African Parliament.

"Decades of endemic corruption have fundamentally perverted cultural values," it added.

Despite noticeable progress on reform, the country still faced many challenges including implementing strong and effective anti-corruption policies, and enacting terrorism and money-laundering laws.

The government should also restructure state expenditure and its wage bill, the report said.

President Mwai Kibaki came to power in 2002 vowing to clamp down on the graft and nepotism which had flourished under his predecessor Daniel Arap Moi.

But his government has been mired in corruption scandals -- some implicating senior officials -- which have drawn the wrath of Western donors and many of the nation's 32 million people.

Last week a senior British official said top-to-bottom corruption in Kenya had heightened the country's vulnerability to terrorism and made it an increasingly popular route for drug-traffickers.

The peer review mechanism is a cornerstone of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) plan under which governments subject their policies to external scrutiny.

African leaders have acknowledged that some countries are reluctant to open up to scrutiny and so far only 25 out of 53 countries in the African Union have signed up for review.

The report also assessed included Ghana and Rwanda.

It said Ghana was "an oasis of peace and tranquillity" in the tumultuous West African region, but corruption remained prevalent despite the government's policy of zero-tolerance.

The APRM applauded Rwanda's efforts to achieve national unity and reconciliation after the genocide of the 1990s, but urged the government to establish a clear land policy and remove all restrictions on political rights, among other reforms.

Now who will save us from this?