EACC concerned over public officers role in 2022 politics

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has raised the red flag over serving State and Public officers actively engaged in political campaigns ahead of next year’s General-Election.

The commission intends to issue a warning to all officers engaged in political campaigns before the stipulated time frame, before taking action on the defiant ones.

Speaking in Mombasa during a workshop on Strengthening Stakeholder Collaboration in the Justice Sector, EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak said such public officers must either resign or hold their horses until the right time as stipulated by the law before joining any political race.

 “Some public officers are already engaged in heightened political campaigns and alignment to political parties, contrary to Section 23 of the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012.

EACC requires any appointed public official desirous of engaging in politics in preparation for 2022 to either resign from public service or hold their horses until the right time,” Mbarak said in Mombasa yesterday.

Leadership and Integrity Act

Section 23 of the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012 states “An appointed State officer, other than a Cabinet Secretary or a member of a County executive committee shall not, in the performance of their duties – act as an agent for, or further the interests of a political party or candidate in an election; or manifest support for or opposition to any political party or candidate in an election.”

It further states that “an appointed State officer or public officer shall not engage in any political activity that may compromise or be seen to compromise the political neutrality of the office subject to any laws relating to elections.”

 Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), the section reads further “ a public officer shall not—engage in the activities of any political party or candidate or act as an agent of a political party or a candidate in an election; publicly indicate support for or opposition against any political party or candidate participating in an election.”

Releasing campaign material

Mbarak said some of the said officers have reportedly devised tricks of advancing their political campaigns by releasing campaign posters and blaming the situation on their purported “followers.”

“They release their profiles and posters and let it circulate through the social media and when the EACC asks them why, they say it’s not me, it’s my followers…the best thing to do is to wait until the right time comes which as it stands it’s on February,” stated the EACC boss.

In light of the above, the CEO said the Commission will write a cautionary letter to all the state officers engaging in campaign trail to warn them about the same.”

Several senior government officers are actively involved in campaigns across the country ahead of the timeframe issued by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to resign.