MKU, EACC partner to promote integrity among youth

By Lawrence Ongaro

Mount Kenya University (MKU) and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) have agreed to partner by leveraging the innovation and energy of young people to foster a culture of integrity.

The Chairman and Founder of MKU, Simon Gicharu, said it is encouraging that EACC is increasingly being known for training on integrity and corruption prevention rather than for curative measures.

Prof. Gicharu, who is also the Chairman of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), indicated that integrity and ethics, when cascaded downwards and incorporated into the CBC curriculum programme and taught to learners at various levels in both primary and secondary schools, become easier to embrace within the community.

Integrity training for young learners

He noted that inculcating integrity in young learners would help raise a conscious generation that would not require heavy monitoring in their day-to-day lives.

MKU Chairman Prof. Simon Gicharu, EACC Vice-Chairperson Monica Wanjiru Muiru, and MKU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Deogratius Jaganyi and EACC Commissioner Colonel Alfred Mshimba. Photo/Courtesy

“I look forward to a future where schools and universities will have no examination invigilators because everybody will have been trained on ethics and integrity, and they will not need any invigilators during examinations — a day when everybody will take care of themselves and regulations without being invigilated or supervised.

This would be a great vision which should happen one day,” he said.

Prof. Gicharu added that the MKU-EACC partnership would be instrumental in promoting integrity training within the country, where MKU’s sister organisation, TV47, and other available resources would also be used in spreading the integrity discourse to encourage more people to participate in awareness creation on the ideals of good governance and responsible citizenship.

Plans for integrity course at MKU

Prof. Deogratius Jaganyi, the Vice-Chancellor of Mount Kenya University, said integrity could become a common unit that every student must undertake, while members of the community could also be engaged through student-driven initiatives.

The MKU VC made the remarks as he promised that MKU and EACC would jointly develop a course on integrity to be offered at MKU for the wider Kenyan community.

Commissioner Monica W. Muiru passed the apology of the Commission Chair, Commissioner David Oginde, as she led the EACC delegation, which also included Col. (Rtd.) Commissioner Alfred M. Mshimba and other officers.

Youth at the centre of anti-corruption drive

The EACC team explained the role of the Kenya Integrity Leadership Forum (KILF), an EACC initiative that provides a platform for dialogue on integrity in universities with the aim of involving the youth, who represent a vital majority in the fight against graft.

This partnership, alongside other similar collaborations, is designed to reduce the tolerance of corruption.

“We are targeting the education sector through universities to reach out to the youth. This is their productive age in terms of innovation and research, and we encourage them to innovate and conduct research on areas of integrity and good governance. We are advancing awareness creation to reduce tolerance for corruption among the youth. We are encouraging them to shun corruption and speak out where they see it,” the EACC team said.

They added that, by instilling integrity and ethical values among young people, EACC hoped to dismantle the myth that ethical behaviour is a hindrance to success.

“We can work with young people in universities and use this demographic population to advance integrity in the country, with the notion that values are inculcated at a young age. That way, we can build a generation that shuns corruption and understands that ethics pays, and that advancing ethics does not disadvantage anyone.”

This new collaboration between MKU and EACC will involve a number of activities, including a public forum scheduled for June 2026 at MKU’s Mwai Kibaki Convention Centre, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that the impact of the partnership extends far beyond lecture halls.