President Kibaki has pledged fraud crackdown

The Public Officer Ethics Bill "provides for elaborate mechanism under which civil servants, who are the symbol of corruption in the past, declare and account for their wealth," a treasury spokeswoman said.

A separate piece of legislation, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Bill has also passed the debate stage.

It awaits final scrutiny by the whole house before the two bills are forwarded to president Mwai Kibaki for signature.

Kickstarting growth

President Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition won last December's elections after pledging to stamp out corruption to revive the economy.

The World Bank and IMF have promised to restore aid to Kenya later this year if President Kibaki's government takes credible measures to end widespread fraud.

Meanwhile, the new governor of Kenya's central bank, Andrew Mullei, has unveiled plans to boost the country's sluggish economy.

"Our main focus now is to do everything that would kickstart, then steer Kenya's under-performing economy to achieve 7% growth," Mr Mullei said.

"Bad governance and its results - corruption and mismanagement of resources - is responsible for our stagnant economy, hovering at less than 1% growth," Mr Mullei added.

Tough measures

He said the country's central bank would "pursue a stable monetary policy, which accommodates the highest economic growth rate possible, while keeping inflation low and stable".

He also pledged tough measures to prevent banks collapsing, taking with them hefty sums of depositors' cash.

He said 22 collapsed Kenyan banks were now under the central bank's Deposit Protection Fund.

"The goal will be to protect depositors' funds and reduce to the barest minimum the likelihood of bank failures," said Mr Mullei, a former director of the Senegal-based African Centre for Economic Growth.

He also pledged to reduce commercial lending rates, currently at 15% or more.