Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have all created special institutions to reduce corruption. Their formal and informal powers vary, but they have grown over time and launched many high-profile investigations. Perceptions of corruption have barely changed in Kenya or Uganda and only fallen slightly in Tanzania, which has the weakest anticorruption institution. Even when the agencies enjoy adequate formal powers, their informal powers are constrained so as to limit their impact. Moreover, corruption is sustained by the political system in East Africa and so creating an institution focused on criminal investigation will not be enough to reduce it.