Ruto vows to veto amendments that water down Conflict of Interest law
President William Ruto delivers a speech during the handover of recovered assets to the state by EACC at State house on September 11, 2024.
President William Ruto has vowed to veto any amendments by Parliament that he says seek to water down the Conflict of Interest Bill (2023), which was to curb cases of public and State officers using their offices to do businesses with government. The declaration by the Head of State hands a major win to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and its efforts against graft.
The Bill, which has since been passed by the Senate with amendments the EACC has described as watering down the key provisions of the proposed law, is before the National Assembly for concurrence, and was a product of a Cabinet decision to curb such forms of corruption.
In the Senate amendments, the House gave public officers — including MPs, governors, ministers, principal secretaries, and parastatal chiefs — a free pass to openly bag government contracts after dismantling the proposed law to curb conflict of interest.
Senators quashed provisions that prohibited government officers from seeking tenders with public entities and others that required regular declaration of wealth, including off their spouses, and children, to curb unexplained accumulation of wealth.
The Cabinet had described the Bill as one that “would herald a new dawn in the management of public affairs by introducing strong legal safeguards against real, apparent, or potential conflict between private interests of public servants on one hand and the public interest and their official duties on the other.”
“The paradigm shift, once enacted into law, would mark the end of the era where public servants would subordinate their official duties to their private and commercial interests,” the Cabinet said of the Bill when it sent it to Parliament.
On Wednesday, President Ruto regretted the amendments, saying he will not allow Bills that hinder the fight against corruption in the country to become law.
Speaking on Wednesday at State House when he was handed over the report on the recovered assets, the President urged the parliamentary leadership to swiftly pass the Conflict of Interests Bill in its original form.
“I have made it clear that I will veto any Bill that does not establish a high standard of accountability, integrity, and anti-corruption measures. Some amendments have been introduced to water down what original bill envisaged,” President Ruto said.
A President’s veto will require Parliament to marshal two-thirds of the MPs to overturn such a decision.
