Denmark has cancelled direct aid to the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) amid concerns over corruption at the lobby group. The government of Denmark said it would not support KAM due to irregularities that were established in relation to a multi-million dollar Danish project being implemented by KAM in Kenya. The Ministry of foreign affairs of Denmark said it had funded KAM through its own lobby, Danish Industry (DI), to the tune of Kshs 39.1 million in 2020–2021. It added that the local project audits of KAM were falsified, as discovered by its auditor during an annual audit.
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Following the discovery, the government of Denmark said KAM initiated a forensic audit using an unnamed independent local audit firm, which confirmed the irregularities. The forensic report indicated fraud of approximately Kshs 2.98 million committed by a former member of the administration. The Danish government said that a new audit would be performed by DI’s auditor regarding allocated funds for the periods of 2020, 2021, and 2022, and also added that their partnership with KAM has been suspended until further notice.
KAM is one of the most influential business lobbies in the country and draws support from leading businesses across various economic sectors. On the irregularities, they agreed to strengthen financial management procedures and control after the scam was exposed.
The Confederation of Danish Industry is Denmark’s largest business and employer organization. DI’s members are 18,000 private enterprises in the manufacturing and services industries, from virtually all subsectors.
