NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 8 — Outgoing European Union Ambassador to Kenya Henriette Geiger has delivered a blunt assessment of Kenya’s fight against corruption, describing graft as the country’s “Achilles heel” and warning that no economy can thrive while public resources continue to be siphoned through unchecked corruption.
Speaking during a farewell engagement with journalists as she concluded her five-year diplomatic posting, Geiger challenged the government to intensify the fight against graft, saying successive administrations had promised reforms but delivered little meaningful progress.
“What is the big Achilles heel of Kenya is corruption,” she said.
“All parties and all candidates promised paradise, promised heaven, and nothing happened. Everybody says corruption has reached unprecedented levels, and a government and a country cannot prosper like that.”
The veteran diplomat argued that Kenya requires a national “reset” in the fight against corruption, saying tackling graft cannot be left to a handful of institutions or individuals but demands collective responsibility from government and citizens alike.
“You cannot just pinpoint one person because then you only create a scapegoat while everybody else gets away,” she said.
“The whole of Kenya has to say enough is enough. People have to realise they are also part of the problem and therefore part of the solution.”
Geiger said the country’s anti-corruption strategy should focus on making corruption significantly riskier than it currently is, arguing that the perceived rewards far outweigh the consequences for offenders.
“The first thing that needs to happen is to make it very risky to engage in corruption because many people think they can get away with it,” she said.
“Reduce the benefits and make the risk very high.”
Drastic punishment
Drawing comparisons with European countries, she said public officials found engaging in corruption should immediately lose their positions before facing criminal prosecution.
“Whoever is caught red-handed faces drastic punishment. The first thing is immediate removal from office, loss of all titles and then court proceedings,” she said.
“If scandals are simply replaced by the next scandal, we will never see meaningful change.”
Europe has, in several instances, moved swiftly to impose political consequences on public officials embroiled in corruption scandals.
One notable example is the 2022 Qatargate scandal, in which European Parliament Vice-President Eva Kaili was removed from her leadership position following her arrest as part of a Belgian investigation into allegations of bribery and influence-peddling.
Police recovered large amounts of cash during searches linked to the probe.
Another example came in 1999, when the European Commission led by Jacques Santer resigned en masse after an independent report uncovered serious failures in accountability, including findings of fraud, mismanagement and nepotism involving some commissioners.
The unprecedented resignation underscored the principle of political responsibility within the EU’s executive arm.
Geiger likened corruption to a household where everyone consumes from a common pot without contributing anything back.
“If everybody goes into the pot and nobody puts anything in, eventually the pot is empty,” she said.
“So there has to be a balance between those who put in and those who take out.”
Despite her criticism, the ambassador acknowledged what she described as prudent economic management by President William Ruto’s administration, noting that it inherited significant debt and strained public finances.
Fiscal discipline
She said macroeconomic indicators suggested Kenya was moving toward better fiscal discipline and debt consolidation, even if many citizens were yet to feel the benefits.
“The tendency is good. Kenya is working towards better fiscal management and debt consolidation,” she said.
However, she cautioned that those gains could easily be undermined if corruption remained unchecked.
“You can have the best economy, but if it is bleeding like that, nobody can survive.”
Geiger also highlighted youth unemployment as one of Kenya’s most pressing long-term challenges, noting that more than one million young people enter the labour market each year while only about 200,000 secure formal employment.
She said the European Union was working with Kenya on initiatives expected to unlock opportunities in business process outsourcing, including a planned EU data adequacy decision that would allow European companies to outsource more digital services to Kenya.
The ambassador expressed optimism that the move could create thousands of jobs by capitalizing on Kenya’s English-speaking workforce and favourable time zone.
Reflecting on her five-year tenure, Geiger cited advancing women’s leadership, combating female genital mutilation, promoting girls’ education and expanding opportunities for women in technology and artificial intelligence among her proudest achievements.
She also praised Kenya’s growing international influence, saying the country had significantly raised its global profile through increased engagement in diplomacy, climate negotiations and multilateral affairs.
Geiger, who became the first woman to serve as the European Union’s ambassador to Kenya, said she would leave the country with fond memories of its people, weather and agricultural produce, while expressing hope that Kenya would continue pursuing governance reforms capable of unlocking its full economic potential.
