Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe

Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe

Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 6)

Received: 11 September 2015 Accepted: 24 September 2015 Published: 10 November 2015

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Abstract

Corruption is an epidemic in Kenya. Major corruption scandals have been reported since the early 90’s. These include the Turkwel Hydroelectric Power Station scandal (1986 – 1990), the Goldenberg scandal (1990 – 1999), the Grand Regency scandal in 2008, and the Triton Oil scandal in 2009 among numerous others. Despite the attempts to fight corruption, the war has never been won. While a number of studies have examined the determinants of corruption in order to offer policy recommendations to fight corruption, individual-level factors have not been exhaustively examined especially for developing countries like Kenya where international corruption indices paint a grim picture. Moreover, the studies have mostly been based on perception of individuals and not the actual payment of bribe. This study sought to assess the individual factors that influence individuals to pay bribes in Kenya. The study uses survey data from Afrobarometer Round 5 survey. The probit analysis shows that corruption in Kenya is influenced by gender, race, ethnicity, religiosity, employment status, and education while age, religion and location were not significant determinants of corruption. The study therefore concludes that a number of individual-level factors explain the likelihood to be corrupt suggesting that some individuals may be born or bred to bribe. To address corruption in Kenya, policy makers should include individual-level determinants of corruption in policy formulation efforts as they are just as important as other factors in explaining corruption.

Published in	Social Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12
Page(s)	134-141
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Corruption, Bribe, Afrobarometer, Religiosity, Kenya

References

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Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango. (2015). Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe. Social Sciences, 4(6), 134-141. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango. Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe. Soc. Sci. 2015, 4(6), 134-141. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango. Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe. Soc Sci. 2015;4(6):134-141. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12,
  author = {Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango},
  title = {Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {4},
  number = {6},
  pages = {134-141},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20150406.12},
  abstract = {Corruption is an epidemic in Kenya. Major corruption scandals have been reported since the early 90’s. These include the Turkwel Hydroelectric Power Station scandal (1986 – 1990), the Goldenberg scandal (1990 – 1999), the Grand Regency scandal in 2008, and the Triton Oil scandal in 2009 among numerous others. Despite the attempts to fight corruption, the war has never been won. While a number of studies have examined the determinants of corruption in order to offer policy recommendations to fight corruption, individual-level factors have not been exhaustively examined especially for developing countries like Kenya where international corruption indices paint a grim picture. Moreover, the studies have mostly been based on perception of individuals and not the actual payment of bribe. This study sought to assess the individual factors that influence individuals to pay bribes in Kenya. The study uses survey data from Afrobarometer Round 5 survey. The probit analysis shows that corruption in Kenya is influenced by gender, race, ethnicity, religiosity, employment status, and education while age, religion and location were not significant determinants of corruption. The study therefore concludes that a number of individual-level factors explain the likelihood to be corrupt suggesting that some individuals may be born or bred to bribe. To address corruption in Kenya, policy makers should include individual-level determinants of corruption in policy formulation efforts as they are just as important as other factors in explaining corruption.},
 year = {2015}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe
AU - Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango
Y1 - 2015/11/10
PY - 2015
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12
DO - 10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12
T2 - Social Sciences
JF - Social Sciences
JO - Social Sciences
SP - 134
EP - 141
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2326-988X
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12
AB - Corruption is an epidemic in Kenya. Major corruption scandals have been reported since the early 90’s. These include the Turkwel Hydroelectric Power Station scandal (1986 – 1990), the Goldenberg scandal (1990 – 1999), the Grand Regency scandal in 2008, and the Triton Oil scandal in 2009 among numerous others. Despite the attempts to fight corruption, the war has never been won. While a number of studies have examined the determinants of corruption in order to offer policy recommendations to fight corruption, individual-level factors have not been exhaustively examined especially for developing countries like Kenya where international corruption indices paint a grim picture. Moreover, the studies have mostly been based on perception of individuals and not the actual payment of bribe. This study sought to assess the individual factors that influence individuals to pay bribes in Kenya. The study uses survey data from Afrobarometer Round 5 survey. The probit analysis shows that corruption in Kenya is influenced by gender, race, ethnicity, religiosity, employment status, and education while age, religion and location were not significant determinants of corruption. The study therefore concludes that a number of individual-level factors explain the likelihood to be corrupt suggesting that some individuals may be born or bred to bribe. To address corruption in Kenya, policy makers should include individual-level determinants of corruption in policy formulation efforts as they are just as important as other factors in explaining corruption.
VL - 4
IS - 6
ER -

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Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango

ResearchPro Solutions, Department of Research & Evaluations, Nairobi, Kenya

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Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango. (2015). Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe. Social Sciences, 4(6), 134-141. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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ACS Style

Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango. Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe. Soc. Sci. 2015, 4(6), 134-141. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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AMA Style

Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango. Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe. Soc Sci. 2015;4(6):134-141. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12,
  author = {Odhiambo Fredrick Onyango},
  title = {Determinants of Corruption in Kenya: Born and Bred to Bribe},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {4},
  number = {6},
  pages = {134-141},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20150406.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20150406.12},
  abstract = {Corruption is an epidemic in Kenya. Major corruption scandals have been reported since the early 90’s. These include the Turkwel Hydroelectric Power Station scandal (1986 – 1990), the Goldenberg scandal (1990 – 1999), the Grand Regency scandal in 2008, and the Triton Oil scandal in 2009 among numerous others. Despite the attempts to fight corruption, the war has never been won. While a number of studies have examined the determinants of corruption in order to offer policy recommendations to fight corruption, individual-level factors have not been exhaustively examined especially for developing countries like Kenya where international corruption indices paint a grim picture. Moreover, the studies have mostly been based on perception of individuals and not the actual payment of bribe. This study sought to assess the individual factors that influence individuals to pay bribes in Kenya. The study uses survey data from Afrobarometer Round 5 survey. The probit analysis shows that corruption in Kenya is influenced by gender, race, ethnicity, religiosity, employment status, and education while age, religion and location were not significant determinants of corruption. The study therefore concludes that a number of individual-level factors explain the likelihood to be corrupt suggesting that some individuals may be born or bred to bribe. To address corruption in Kenya, policy makers should include individual-level determinants of corruption in policy formulation efforts as they are just as important as other factors in explaining corruption.},
 year = {2015}
}

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