BBC world affairs correspondent Peter Biles, is travelling through Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and Ethiopia to examine the scale of the task the commission has set itself. After visiting Uganda and Burundi, the third leg of his journey takes him to Kenya.

Kibaki pledged to fight corruption - but are his policies working?

Nairobi will always feel like home. I lived here in the early 1990s - it was a time of turmoil with activists detained, riots in the capital and the unsolved murder of the foreign minister.

Eventually, Daniel arap Moi's Kenya begrudgingly turned its back on the one-party state, and moved to multi-party politics.

The Moi era ended in December 2002 when Mwai Kibaki won a landslide election victory. Mr Kibaki had campaigned on an anti-corruption platform.

He promised a fresh start, and unlike Mr Moi, Mr Kibaki did not want his picture on Kenyan banknotes.

But now, alarmingly, the corruption that permeated the highest echelons of society in the 1980s and 90s has reared its head once again.

A half-page advertisement in The Daily Nation this week, placed by Transparency International, says that after 21 months of Mr Kibaki's administration, it is time to take stock of the new government's record in fighting corruption.

"Has the government delivered on all its promises?" asks Transparency International.

My producer, Tamzen Audas, and I take a taxi to the Pumwani district of Nairobi.

It is a poor suburb on the eastern side of town, and the journey along the pot-holed roads is hard-going.

We are on our way to the St John's Community Centre to meet the Reverend Jephthah Gathaka, Executive Director of the Ecumenical Centre For Justice and Peace.

He's convened a small workshop, bringing together about 30 young people to discuss the issue of corruption and the impact it has on development.

MEMBERS OF THE AFRICA COMMISSION Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, UK Chancellor Hilary Benn, UK Development Secretary Michel Camdessus, former IMF head Bob Geldof, musician Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister, Ethiopia Trevor Manuel, Finance Minister, South Africa Ralph Goodale, Canadian Finance Minister Nancy Kassenbaum Baker, former US Senator K Y Amoako, UN Economic Commission for Africa Benjamin Mkapa, President of Tanzania L K Mohohlo, Governor Bank of Botswana Dr Anna Tibaijuka, Director, UN Habitat, Tanzania T J Thiam, group director, Aviva, Ivory Coast William Kalema, chairman, Uganda Manufacturers Assn Fola Adeola, chairman, Fate Foundation, Nigeria Ji Peiding, vice-chairman, Chinese parliament's foreign affairs committee Tough task for Commission

The rich sound of Swahili voices can be heard as we arrive at the hall. The youngsters are singing a song about the evils of corruption.

Reverend Gathaka opens the debate by asking them to describe examples of corruption - everything from a bribe to a traffic policeman to the creaming off of government resources into personal bank accounts.

Afterwards, I meet two of the youngsters, David Odhiambo and Stefan Waithaka. They fear that corruption in Kenya is harming their long-term career prospects.

The next day, we try, in vain, to arrange an interview with John Githongo, the Kenyan government's newly appointed anti-corruption supremo.

However, he proves to be elusive.

The Kenyan government's efforts to combat corruption cut little ice with the Reverend Gathaka and his young friends in Pumwani.

Kenyans are becoming more aware of how corruption affects their lives

They describe corruption in Kenya as "a monster".

And they say they'll go on challenging it wherever they meet it.

From here in Nairobi, it's on now to Ethiopia for the meeting of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa.

After 10 days on the road in east Africa, it has become clear how many different issues the commission has to address in order to reduce poverty and generate economic growth across the continent.