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How The Blue Company and others are helping the private sector fight against corruption in Africa

Corruption remains one of the biggest challenges facing Kenya. Actually, East Africa. Wait a minute, all over the continent… oh, and far beyond. It undermines trust and hence stifles economic growth, and its effects are felt across all sectors. Companies often find themselves entangled in unethical practices such as bribery, fraud and mismanagement, as they navigate their way through an environment where transparency and accountability are hard to handle.

The private sector stands at a pivotal moment. As global attention increasingly turns toward ethical governance and corporate responsibility, businesses in Africa face a choice: perpetuate the status quo or embrace a transformative path of integrity, transparency and accountability.

Organisations like The Blue Company (where I am a member of its Membership and Ethics Committee) and the UN Global Compact are stepping in to lead the way. Rooted in the belief that ethical governance is the cornerstone of sustainable development, they work to embed integrity at the heart of corporate culture. Through certification, training and advocacy, such initiatives support businesses to rise above corrupt practices and champion ethical standards.

But the philosophy that underpins this approach is larger than any one initiative. At its core is the conviction that integrity is more than a compliance requirement – it is a driver of trust, innovation and long-term growth. Businesses committed to ethical practices gain reputational advantages, attract investment and foster environments conducive to sustainable development.

Change begins at the top, as leaders play a critical role in shaping corporate culture, setting the tone for ethical behaviour and ensuring accountability. For a culture of integrity to thrive, leaders must commit to transparent decision-making and zero-tolerance policies for corruption. When they embody such values and behaviours, they inspire trust within their organisations and beyond.

However, leadership alone is not enough. Businesses must invest in capacity building to ensure alignment across all levels. Comprehensive training programmes that focus on ethical decision-making, anti-bribery measures and practical approaches to transparency are crucial. These efforts equip employees with the tools they need to uphold integrity in their daily operations.

Corruption is not just a business issue – it is a societal one. Addressing it requires collective action from professional associations, civil society, governments and businesses. Advocacy plays a vital role in this effort, promoting policies that support ethical governance and creating systems that reward transparency.

Collaborative initiatives, like those championed by The Blue Company, amplify the impact of individual efforts. By working with stakeholders across sectors, these initiatives help establish integrity as a norm rather than an exception. Advocacy also influences legislation, ensuring that ethical practices are supported by robust legal frameworks.

Innovation is a powerful tool in the fight against corruption. Emerging technologies, such as blockchain for secure record-keeping and artificial intelligence for auditing processes, offer businesses new ways to enhance transparency and accountability. By adopting these

advancements, organisations can prevent fraud, streamline compliance, and stay ahead in the evolving business landscape.

Technology also empowers stakeholders by increasing access to information. Digital platforms that track supply chains, for example, make it easier to identify and address unethical practices. Such tools deter corruption and so build trust among consumers, investors and regulators.

While some progress has been made, much remains to be done. Corruption continues to be a significant barrier to economic growth. Expanding ethical business practices across industries and geographies is essential for transforming Africa’s private sector into a driver of integrity-driven development.

The road to ethical governance is not easy. For corruption provides shortcuts and immediate gains that can tempt businesses to compromise their values. But the long-term rewards of integrity far outweigh the risks of unethical behaviour.

In the face of such challenges, these initiatives offer a path forward, as we heard last week at the Africa Business Ethics Conference. By prioritising certification, capacity building and advocacy, they create a foundation for trust and sustainable growth. Yet their success depends on a collective commitment from the private sector to act responsibly and lead by example.

For Africa to unlock its full potential, businesses must embrace a vision of integrity as a guiding principle – not just for compliance, but as a cornerstone of competitive advantage. This shift will not only attract investment and foster innovation but also lay the groundwork for a thriving economy built on trust and merit.

In a region where corruption has long been a major obstacle to progress, the private sector has the opportunity to redefine success. By championing ethical governance, businesses can become catalysts for systemic change, paving the way for a future where there will be less resistance to transparency and accountability.

From Jomo to Uhuru, Rao’s Nine Lives

Like Joe Wanjui and Manu Chandaria, about whom I have written recently, I got to know Sharad Rao through Rotary. But having recently read his autobiography, From Jomo to Uhuru, Rao’s Nine Lives – Reminiscences of the Power, Courage and Intrigues that Shaped Kenya’s Post-Colonial History, I now know him very much better.

Being with Rao one appreciates his integrity and frankness, calling a spade a spade, plus his calmness and clarity of thinking, his wonderful memory and his gentle humour – such powerful contributors to his extraordinary legal career. All this is so clearly reflected in his memoir, a follow up to his earlier book, Indian Dukawallas – Their Contribution to the Political and Economic Development of Kenya, which was published in 2016.

His autobiography was launched in June of this year, and in it Rao takes us from his origins through his education and his legal life to the community projects that now occupy his time in his late eighties. Two themes within the book stood out for me: the racism of the colonialists vis-à-vis both Asians and Africans, and what it takes for judges to perform honourably.

Let me start with the racism, and I can’t resist sharing with you this awful quote in the book from Charles Eliot, the colonial administrator who initiated the policy of white supremacy here: “The average Englishman tolerates a black man who admits his inferiority, and even those who show a good fight and give in, but he cannot tolerate dark colour combined with an intelligence in any way equal to his own.”

Rao also quotes Colonel Grogan as having proclaimed “We Europeans have to go on ruling this country and rule it with iron discipline.” Don’t mention Grogan in my house, as my wife Evelyn Mungai’s great grandmother Wanjiru had her land where the Norfolk Hotel now stands grabbed by this awful fellow.

Prejudice against Asians continued after Kenya became decolonised, and he tells us numerous stories of how he and others became victims of such exclusion.

Let me now turn to the second theme that struck me. In a chapter on his chairmanship of the Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board in 2011 we learn so much about what it takes to be a high performing judge. For as he and his colleagues sat in judgement on the extent to which the behaviour of the judges was consistent with the recently passed 2010 Constitution, they had to reflect deeply on who should qualify to continue serving on the bench and who should step down.

Their purpose, he writes, was “to remove the taint of the judiciary as being corrupt, unduly favourable to those in power, obsessed with technicalities, incapable of dealing with cases with requisite promptness, and generally unable or unwilling to administer justice in an appropriate manner.” He writes about what good and bad behaviour entails, and it occurred to me that the best way of summing it all up would be to say they must be highly emotionally intelligent.

Among Rao’s many wonderfully narrated stories, I want to pick out the one in 1974 where President Kenyatta announced that from then on Presidents of all societies, associations and clubs should be called Chairman and not President – as Kenya had only one President, himself. This happened shortly before Rao was due to visit China, and he told then Attorney General Charles Njonjo that Chairman Mao would take offence if he also called himself Chairman. He was given exemption, so for the two weeks he was in China Kenya had two Presidents. A good example of Rao’s easy humour.

For many years thereafter the edict was adhered to, till one day at a Rotary Conference where Kijana Wamalwa was the Guest of Honour and I was giving the vote of thanks I asked him whether Rotary Chairmen could now again be allowed to be called Presidents, as they were everywhere else in the world. “What’s in a name?” he mumbled, and I said I took it this was an assent. From then on the title “President” was again no longer restricted to State House.

I read that in 1957, while studying law in London, Rao lived in Hampstead – which is where I grew up. What stage was I at in 1957? I had just entered my high school years. Oh well, now we are both in our third age, with so many ups and downs in our lives to look back on. I have yet to do so in the form of a book, but so good that Rao has.

Going Blue

Being a member of The Blue Company’s Ethics Committee that assesses potential new members and also their qualification for membership renewal, I was delighted to be part of last Friday’s “Going Blue” event at the Serena Hotel. It was a gathering of members, potential members and others interested in the anti-corruption theme of the Blue Company.

The programme was launched by Ken Oyolla, the Nation Media Group’s Chief Commercial Officer, and next was keynote speaker Dr Julius Kipng’etich, a Blue Company Advisory Board Member and Group CEO of Jubilee Holdings, who described corruption as the big reason why Kenya is stuck with its low per capita GDP. This corruption de-energises society, and unless the tone at the top is right, rewarding good people and punishing bad ones, we will continue where we are.

He was followed by Davis & Shirtliff Group CEO George Mbugua, who talked about how they live the integrity ideals of the Blue Company. He confirmed that “Going Blue” is a good idea, ie that integrity is. He emphasised the importance to Davis & Shirtliff of its values, about which they talk all the time… and which they live.

Next we heard from a panel, with Benard Kiragu, the Managing Partner of Scribe Services, Dr Joyce Omina, the CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors, and Dr Aysha Edwards, the CEO of AAR Hospital, who talked about the emergence of policies, regulations and codes of conduct which bulletproof organisations against corruption. It’s important to get active participation in all this, we heard, so as to obtain buy-in; and also that auditors should be partners and consultants, and hence preventers, rather than characters who just inspire fear.

They were followed by Alexandre Baron, the EU Head of Section for Governance and Macro-economics. He explained how the EU is promoting international standards for integrity and compliance, rightly describing it as a global challenge.

Catherine Musakali, the Managing Partner of Dorion Associates and Founder Chairperson of Women on Boards Network, then explained why there’s an urgent need for the private sector to “Go Blue”, and she started by telling us a story of how she was once on her daily walk when she saw a police officer seeking bribes from matatus. She approached her, looked her in the eye and instructed her to “leave”, which she did – showing one doesn’t need to be just an impotent observer.

Corruption increases costs and undermines competition, she confirmed. Dealing with it is no longer optional, as today’s regulations demand it. It’s not just for Blue Chip companies now, as the modern consumer expects all those from whom they buy to be ethical. Customers are willing to pay a premium for products from suppliers whose values align with theirs, and they become loyal.

Increasingly, if one is unethical one risks fines, reputational damage and having a monitor imposed. There is a cost to such compliance, but it pays off in the long run. Investors too are prioritising these issues, as it enhances resilience and sustainability. The biggest obstacle to progress is mindsets, for they determine a company’s culture. But it is this that delivers the long-term benefits.

Now Blue Company founder and advisory board member Nizar Juma spoke, and he told us Jubilee has done very well despite being ethical. It’s difficult to prove corruption, he admitted, but everyone knows who is corrupt and who isn’t.

“So many of our children see their parents behaving corruptly, as a result of which they enjoy a new Mercedes, a new big home,” he said, “but we want our children to grow up saying their parents were corruption-free.” He concluded by suggesting that there is light at the end of the tunnel, however dim, and we must be brave in working on brightening that light.

Chief Guest Dr Habil Olaka, Chairman of the Centre for Corporate Governance, quoted Uhuru’s estimate that we lose Shs2b a day to corruption, suggesting that the private sector has a very important role to play here, as it is the supplier. Over the last few years the Assets Recovery Agency and the Financial Reporting Centre, have been established to combat this corruption.

We need well-structured decision-making, said Dr Olaka, which is only possible where there is good governance. He made the point that beyond focusing on long-term profits there must also be short time profitability to fund immediate sustainability, with a balance between the two.

Finally, before Nation Media Group’s James Sogoti, their General Manager Commercial, gave the vote of thanks, it was my turn – for ‘Closing remarks and next steps’, as the programme described it. It’s what I will write about in my next column. This one was about the “what”. Next will come the “so what”.

Corruption rife in the West too

I was in London for a few days in December, and there I came across an article on corruption in the Sunday Times by Matthew Syed—a management consultant like me—about how it works in western liberal democracies. He reckons the cancer of corruption has been growing there for decades, resulting in such consequences as the stagnation in their economies, the rise in inequality, and the collapse of trust in government.

He accepts that some may challenge his diagnosis of the underlying disease, pointing to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) where Western nations continue to score favourably. But while the US, the UK and the EU countries tend not to engage in the kind of “transactional” corruption measured by the TI survey, what is seen in the West is a different kind of decay, subtler and more insidious.

He mentions the significant number of politicians who pass through the revolving door and earn huge sums of money from companies over which they once had oversight; notes how political parties are funded by an even smaller number of mega-donors; and observes that those who chair public committees and tribunals know that their elevation to the peerage is in the gift of those over whom they sit in judgement.

So it’s not about straightforward bribes. Rather “it is a covert edifice of nods, winks and reciprocal obligations that has created a parallel system of political power”. Thinkers over the ages like Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek have noted that corporations are not seeking to act in the public interest but “to protect themselves from the cleansing power of open competition by advocating sweetheart regulations, covert subsidies and other barriers to entry from insurgent rivals”.

Syed also quotes Luigi Zingales, who noted that “the best way to make lots of money is not to come up with brilliant ideas but to cultivate a government ally”. The consequence of such activity today is that dominant companies are staying ever longer in the main indices, and start-up rates are dwindling on both sides of the Atlantic.

Syed then quotes Matt Ridley, who saw that of Europe’s 100 most valuable companies, none was formed in the past 40 years. “Free markets have been replaced with rigged markets,” concludes Syed, “capitalism with a cronyish impostor.”

How extraordinary. In among all one reads about the contemporary trend of corporate social responsibility and about how we are becoming much more sensitive to the environment, to social issues and to good governance, here’s a contrary view, a really gloomy one.

As interesting as Syed’s observation of “corruption’s revolving door” are his proposals for how to seal that door before it is too late. His first one is to impose a ban of at least five years on ministers and regulators working for companies over which they had had oversight.

Meanwhile, he would significantly increase the salaries of ministers, which he accepts would be an extremely unpopular move. His logic is that higher-quality candidates would be attracted to such positions, and that they would be happy just serving the public interest rather than using their jobs in the subsequent service of corporate clients from whom the real money would be earned after leaving office.

One more suggestion, hard to imagine how it could work even in the environment Syed was writing about: a voucher system for funding political parties, where each person would have, say, £50 to contribute to the party or the candidate of their choice, encouraging parties to engage much more widely with voters. Alongside this, a cap on private donations. Without such remedies, Syed is convinced, the body politic risks being fatally harmed by the corruption cancer within.

As I read the article, I first wondered how mainstream Syed’s views are, and to what extent his suggested remedies are being considered. But mainly I thought about how what he spelt out relates to what happens here. Our position on Transparency International’s CPI is low, as we are expert at indulging in what Syed describes as “officials asking for bungs; ministers giving jobs to nieces and nephews; politicians siphoning off funds from state coffers to Swiss bank accounts”, the kind of corruption that has eased off in the West.

For sure here, “knowing people” so as to have allies in government is as important as anywhere; and offering soft-landing jobs to former politicians and senior government officials is commonplace.

It’s all relative, isn’t it though? While we are worse off than many, we are still not as bad as plenty of others. The struggle continues, here and elsewhere.