How Uhuru's Appetite for Debts Will be Tamed - Ndung'u Wainaina

Ndung'u Wainaina, who's the Executive Director at the International Center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) has outlined measures that will tame President Uhuru Kenyatta's government's affinity for accruing debt.

In a statement to newsrooms, the human rights specialist stated that the government was going broke as it is struggling to pay the debt while meeting expenditure obligations. He added that the debt payments are eating into virtually entire revenue threatening to grind government operations to a halt.

To remedy the situation, Wainaina opined that stringent measures need to be taken to shield Kenyans from the looming debt trap including disclosing the breakdown of the national debt, listing creditors, amounts and projects funded by each loan.

"Further, there has to be a complete stop to any kind of loan commitments to lenders from the government, except where a deserving case has been openly debated and endorsed by Parliament. Kenyans must reach consensus with Parliament, before any agreement on borrowing ceiling is approved or rejected," he stated.

International Center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) Executive Director Ndung'u Wainaina. He accused the country’s leaders are irresponsibly borrowing billions of shillings every year. 

Wainaina conveyed that there was an urgent need for National Treasury to open the debt register to a thorough forensic audit to see which debts are genuine, and which ones ended in the pockets of a few people.

"The comprehensive independent forensic audit of Kenya debt will ascertain true situation before the debate on raising borrowing ceiling can progress. The exhaustive audit of the Kenya public debt will further spotlight the real amounts involved, the creditors and the payment period for each of the debts.

"Not only should there be an audit but the government should also publish in detail all information about the public debt, for the knowledge of Kenyan citizens, for it is they who will have to pay the debt," he stated.

The ICPC Director declared that the Jubilee government must explain publicly its strategy for paying the debt and announce measures to hold responsible the authors of the present crisis.

"The Public Finance Management Act 20102 must be overhauled to enforce Constitution requirement that National Parliament guarantees no government borrows without Parliament authority, and that never again will government violates the limits set in the annual budget laws on the amount of debt which the government can guarantee," he concluded.

President Uhuru Kenyatta