Anonymously reporting corruption as it happens became a reality in Kenya this week, thanks to the founder of the “I Paid a Bribe” Web site unveiling mobile services for the online tool.

I Paid a Bribe, set up in December by social entrepreneur Anthony Ragui, encourages people to anonymously report incidents of corruption in Kenya. Those using the Web site can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and even the values of corrupt acts.

Ragui plans to use the site to draw attention to the problem of bribery in Kenya to persuade authorities to crack down on the issue. The site already has 564 reports of bribery, amounting to a total value of Sh15.2 million, according Ragui.

Now “I Paid a Bribe” has an SMS service, while plans are also under way to launch a mobi-site.

More than 25 million Kenyans are connected to mobile telecommunications services, according to the Communications Commission of Kenya`s 4th Quarter Sector Statistical Report for 2011.

“The SMS reporting functionality will allow people to report bribes in real-time,” Ragui says. “And we can use a GMS mapping system to pinpoint where bribes are being paid.”

Solicitation of bribes is rife in Kenya, which was ranked 154th out of 182 nations in the Corruption Perception Index 2011 by anti-corruption campaigner Transparency International.

Ragui, therefore, wants to get Kenyans talking about corruption on his Web site and share their stories, including instances where people avoided paying a bribe, and even where officials acted honourably.

“When it comes to small, little issues, nobody talks about those small things. Petty bribery actually affects our country more than large corruption. I`m trying to get Kenyans to talk openly about it.”