Kenyans attribute increased corruption and unethical practices to high cost of living
By Nancy Marende, August 5, 2025A growing number of Kenyans are linking the country’s rising levels of corruption and unethical behaviour to the high cost of living.
This is according to the National Ethics and Corruption Survey 2024 released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Tuesday, August 5, 2025.
The survey shows that 67.6 per cent of respondents believe corruption and unethical conduct are high, an increase from 57.3 per cent in the 2023 survey.
Respondents cited the high cost of living as the main reason for the high level of unethical conduct and corruption, followed by rampant corruption in poor public service delivery, bad governance and increased reporting of corruption cases.
“High cost of living, 17.9 percent rampant corruption in public offices, 15.8 percent, poor service delivery in public service 11.8 percent, bad governance 11.2 per cent and more corruption incidents being reported, 11.1 percent were the main reasons for rating the level of unethical conduct and corruption as high,” read the survey.
Among those who felt corruption and unethical practices had increased, 22 percent directly linked it to the high cost of living, while 12.7 percent pointed to the rise in reports of unethical conduct, and 12.6percent cited the growing demand for bribes in service delivery. Another 10.8 percent blamed the lack of action against corrupt officials.
On the other hand, a smaller portion of respondents felt there had been a decline in corruption. They credited this to reduced cases of unethical conduct, implementation of anti-corruption strategies, increased prosecutions, and visible government commitment to fighting corruption.
“Respondents who thought that unethical conduct and corruption were decreasing attributed it to reduced cases of unethical conduct and corruption, 20.5 percent implementation of strategies to promote ethical practices and combat corruption, 19.6 percent prosecution of corrupt officers, 14.8 percent and government commitment in the fight against corruption and promotion of ethic,s 9.8 percent, among others.”
War against corruption
Additionally, the survey revealed that 83.3 percent of Kenyans indicated that the war against corruption was headed in the wrong direction, representing an increase of 19.2 percent compared to the ratings obtained in the 2023 survey.
The four major reasons cited as to why the respondents believed that the war against unethical conduct and corruption is headed in the wrong direction were mainly because of a high level of corruption 41.1 percent, non-action on unethical conduct and corrupt acts 12.2 percent , high level of discrimination in public services 7.5 percent and corrupt government officials 7.0 per cent among others.