All the parameters, when analysed from June 2012 to June 2019, point to a reckless government hell-bent on a unchecked, unplanned and uncoordinated borrowing spree that has left the country spending almost its every penny on debt repayment or borrowing more to repay some of the other loans.
When Henry Rotich took over at the National Treasury in 2013, Kenya’s public debt was Sh1.6 trillion, as at June 2012.
Today, it is Sh5.3 trillion — a whopping 70 per cent increase in a decade. Debt is not bad, as long as it is prudently spent.
But it cannot point at a tangible project, apart from the standard gauge railway, that has cobbled up the extra Sh3.7 trillion.
When he was appointed National Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Kenya was running a budget deficit of Sh330 billion. In 2019, it is set to hit Sh600 billion.
Recently, the CS wrote to the World Bank requesting for budgetary support, which has since been, reportedly, granted.
This was akin to officially giving up on efforts to mitigate the numerous budget leaks that are so evident, but which the Treasury is seemingly unable to stop.
Rotich has been unable to streamline budgeting by government agencies, which even the Auditor-General has acknowledged is the beginning of corruption.
Cartels input budget lines designed to siphon public funds during disbursement.
The Treasury continues to pay for projects that have either stalled or been declared unviable. At KRA, corruption has seen the taxman miss his targets.
Cost of living has gone up, so has the cost of credit and the cost of doing business.
As the man entrusted with the national economy but seems to have failed, CS Rotich should resign.
Much as the ‘Big Four Agenda’ sounds beneficial, I don’t see the point in borrowing Sh75 billion from the World Bank to fund it.
Recover the billions of shillings stolen from the public purse and laundered as tithe, offertory and church donations to fund it.
Hajj Abdulla Guyo, Kakamega
Kenya, under the Jubilee government, has breached the key International Monetary Fund debt service revenue ratio of a global average of 30 per cent; its rate stands at 33.4 per cent.
Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo says Kenya cannot sustain borrowing to run projects as Sh1.1 trillion of revenue goes into debt repayment and Sh700 billion recurrent expenditure.
Parliament should form an independent public debt management body to curb the recklessly ballooning debt appetite by the government to sate a few greedy individuals.
As Kenya took out a World Bank loan last week, new government vehicles have been increasing in the streets. This is a microcosm of all that is wrong.
It is now clear nobody of substance is safeguarding public funds the way we would expect.
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