TI Kenya: Public trust in Judiciary, EACC still low despite role in fighting graft
Kenyans are rapidly losing confidence in key anti-corruption institutions, with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Judiciary ranking lowest in public trust.
This is according to the 2025 Kenya Bribery Index released by Transparency International (TI) Kenya on July 17.
You might also like
According to the report, the Office of the Auditor General received the highest confidence rating from the public with a score of 2.9 out of 5, just slightly above the halfway mark, while the Judiciary and EACC ranked among the lowest.
“When respondents were asked to rank their level of confidence in the various anti-corruption institutions, the Office of the Auditor General was ranked highest,” the report read.
Despite this, the report warned that the low confidence in the Judiciary and the EACC poses a serious threat to the country’s fight against corruption.
“While the role of the Auditor General is very critical in flagging areas of public financial management concerns, the Judiciary and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) remain central cogs in the fight against corruption,” the report stated.
Adding;
“Lower public confidence in these two institutions may serve to dilute the efforts against vice.”
Public’s role
Interestingly, the report showed that many Kenyans now believe they, as individuals, have a stronger role to play in fighting corruption than institutions like the media, civil society, or religious organisations.
“The citizens seem to trust their effort and contribution against corruption higher than either the media, civil society or religious institutions,” the report noted.
Among non-state actors, the media had the highest trust score at 2.8, although this marked a drop from previous years.
“This is a drop from 3.8 recorded in the 2017 and 2019 surveys,” the report said.
However, despite Kenyans expressing high self-confidence in tackling corruption, most are not taking steps to report it.
“This positive self-outlook should, however, be viewed against low instances of corruption reporting by citizens as captured elsewhere in the report. The citizenry, even with the expressed high sense of self-trust, does not seem to be utilising the opportunities available to report bribery,” TI Kenya reported.
This comes despite high-profile anti-corruption efforts in recent years. Still, these efforts have not been enough to convince the public.
