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The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has directed governors to streamline their record management to seal off loopholes that create room for corruption.

In an advisory to the counties, EACC chief executive Twalib Mbarak faulted county Executives and Assemblies for poor record keeping practices.

Mbarak regretted that a Corruption Risk Assessment conducted on various county governments had identified poor state of records management in both the County Executive and Assemblies that had created a conducive environment for graft to occur.

Following the move, he told governors to submit to the Commission a comprehensive Action Plan on streamlining Records Management within 60 days beginning January 18.

He also directed them to provide quarterly reports to the Commission on the implementation progress.

“It is notable that the accounting officers have not taken measures to institutionalise and integrate this function into the business systems and processes. Opportunities for corruption are manifested where document capture, tracking, control, maintenance, retrieval, storage and disposal systems are not structured.”

He added: “The purpose of this Advisory is to bring to your attention the above concerns which hinders transparency, accountability and good governance in the conduct of public affairs and service delivery. Each County Government (Executive and Assembly) is required to develop and operationalise policies, procedures and manuals to streamline records management.”

In the advisory copied to the Principal Secretary State Department of Culture, Arts and Heritage Ummi Bashir and Kenya National Archives and Documentation Services director Francis Mwangi, Mbarak reminded the governors that records are vital organisational assets that underpin transparency, accountability and good governance.

Authentic records

He also advised that good records management also ensures that accurate, complete and authentic records are created and are easily accessible for timely decision making.

He said: “Lack of designated registries to centralise receipt and dispatch of mail and ensure systematic creation, of authentic, reliable and accessible records. This gap leads to discretion in management of records such as letters; loss of correspondences and leakage of confidential information.”

“Lack of retention and disposal schedules, encouraging unauthorised destruction of records and huge accumulation of un-appraised records that frustrates access to required documents,” he went on.

The assessment done by the commission revealed that most counties lack record management policies and procedure manuals to guide and assign responsibilities for management of records across all the institutional functions.

It also shows that counties have no proper classification system to allow systematic arrangement and filling of records which has led to misfiling and loss of critical references.

It further shows the problems in counties are due to lack of inventories for records and related assets as established by the assembly which had led to pilferage and loss of resources as well as poor tracking, control and retrieval systems, which contributed to delays in service delivery thus allowing corruption malpractices to take place.

He said: “Inadequate and congested storage facilities hindering easy retrieval of records. Lack of sound planning and failure to streamline the existing records in order to have a smooth transition to computerisation.”