Thousands of civil servants could soon lose their salaries for failing to declare their wealth under sweeping new anti-corruption regulations that also require them to reveal the finances of their spouses, children and assets held outside Kenya.
The proposed regulations, prepared by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to enforce the Conflict of Interest Act, 2025, introduce tougher disclosure requirements for state and public officers.
The draft rules, now before the public for comments, seek to strengthen accountability by widening the list of assets and financial interests that must be declared.
The proposals will apply to officers serving in ministries, county governments, state corporations and independent commissions.
Under the draft regulations, responsible commissions will have powers to take action against officers who fail to submit their declarations within the required period.
Those who ignore the requirement risk having their salaries stopped until they comply with the law.
The officers could also face disciplinary action after being issued with a notice and prior warning.
At present, public institutions have limited options when dealing with unexplained wealth unless the matter is before a court. The proposed regulations seek to close that gap by expanding the wealth declaration framework and giving authorities stronger powers to enforce compliance.
One of the biggest changes requires public officers to declare the financial details of their spouses, including those they have separated from.
“A public officer who is separated from his or her spouse or spouses is required to submit a declaration for the separated spouse or spouses, in so far as they can reasonably ascertain the income, assets and liabilities of the spouse.”
The requirement could present challenges for officers involved in difficult separations or divorce cases where communication between former partners has broken down. In such cases, they would still be expected to obtain financial information from an estranged spouse to meet the legal requirement.
The proposed regulations also extend wealth declarations to income, assets and liabilities held outside Kenya.
The draft rules state that “any income, assets and liabilities that a public officer may have outside Kenya, should be declared.”
Foreign bank accounts, investments, businesses and property owned abroad would therefore become part of the declaration process. The draft regulations also state that “Any income, assets and liabilities that a public officer holds jointly with any other person or entity should be declared.”
Officers will also be required to indicate the share or interest they hold in jointly owned property or investments.
The obligation to submit declarations will apply to every state and public officer, including those on leave, secondment, overseas assignments or facing disciplinary proceedings.
“The obligation to make a declaration applies to all state and public officers including those on leave, under disciplinary action, secondment and overseas assignments,” the rules say.
The only exception will if granted by the Attorney General through a gazette notice.
The regulations also introduce new requirements for couples where both spouses are public officers. Each spouse will have to submit a declaration for the other even though both will also file their own individual declarations with their respective commissions.
As a result, each officer will appear twice in the declaration system, through their own filing and through the declaration made by their spouse.
The regulations are meant to support the implementation of the Conflict of Interest Act, 2025, which President William Ruto signed into law last year.
The law expanded the number of state and public officers covered by conflict of interest and wealth declaration requirements by bringing more public offices under the law.
EACC, chaired by David Oginde, is also seeking to automate the declaration process through digital systems. According to the commission, the technology will help identify inconsistencies, uncover possible hidden assets and “flag out possible issues of conflict of interest.”
The proposed system will also be linked to other government databases containing information needed to analyse declarations.
If adopted, declarations could be checked against land records, company registrations, vehicle ownership records and tax information to help verify the information submitted by public officers.
The draft regulations also recognise electronic declarations as legally valid even where there are no physical signatures or acknowledgement slips.