20100723
africanews

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Lawyer Patrick Lumumba was named Kenya's new anti-corruption chief on Friday, taking the helm of an organisation criticised for failing to bring high-profile offenders to book.

Corruption has dogged Kenya for decades. There is frustration among Kenyans that senior officials are able to get away with flagrant theft while graft's stranglehold has choked growth in east Africa's biggest economy.

When people were asked what was the most important issue facing east Africa's biggest economy in a February poll, corruption came first on 38 percent, followed by political instability on 20 percent.

Lumumba replaces Judge Aaron Ringera as director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC).

Ringera was reappointed by President Mwai Kibaki last year, but quit after parliament refused to endorse him and threatened to hold up government spending bills over the row.

Ringera, who led the commission since its inception in 2003, said bad laws and a slow judicial system had hampered his efforts to end high level corruption.

Some analysts say Lumumba tarnished his reputation by venturing into politics in the 2007 elections, a disputed poll that provoked some of the worst violence in Kenya's history.

"He has absolutely no credibility in the fight against corruption. We do not know what he stands for, he is a lot of sound and no action," said Mutahi Ngunyi, a political scientist who says he is a good friend of Lumumba.