The recently launched anti-corruption campaign will not succeed without involving grassroots leadership, Malindi elders have said.

They said village elders should be fully integrated in the local committees that are being formed in various locations across the country.

On Thursday, the Sabaki Location elders appealed to the minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs to get down to the village levels and make the committees all-inclusive.

Led by Mr Stephen Mwanjenje of Mtangani village, the elders told reporters that they had noticed they were being sidelined and warned that "the campaign might not succeed if such a vital component of society is left out."

"Committees have started being formed at divisional levels. But we have noticed that the members are the same town people, most of who have been mentioned in corruption scandals in the past. Why are we not included?" they asked.

In her speech read by assistant minister William Cheptum in Malindi last week, minister Martha Karua said: "The Government has developed and adopted the concept of District Anti-corruption Civilian Oversight Committees (Daccocs) strategically to take the war against corruption to the grassroots in order to engage and involve more Kenyans at that level."

Ms Karua launched the Malindi Daccoc office and said similar offices would be opened countrywide.

She said good governance had for a long time been hampered by lack of transparency and accountability, poor communication links between the public and the Government and lack of trust.

Corrosive

Ms Karua said corruption was at all levels of society and it that it destroyed Government structures and hindered delivery of quality service.

"I call upon the people of Malindi to safeguard all Government devolved fund activities from the corrosive effects of corruption.," she said.

But the village elders said many such programmes had failed to reach the villagers before and feared that the anti-corruption crusade would also end at the district level.