President Uhuru Kenyatta is now counting losses in his rule after a directive he issued in September 2019 ended disastrously.
According to a report by The Standard, parastatals liquidated bills and bonds worth Sh9 billion since he issued the order demanding that the institutions stop dealing in government papers.
It turned out that, according to data shared by the Central Bank of Kenya, the parastatals only liquidated the measly amount hence decreasing their share of domestic debt to 6.63 per cent from a high of 7.5 per cent.
The firms were still holding Treasury bills and bonds worth Sh195.7 billion by the end of 2019, from Ksh208 billion in September last year, which is a minimal drop.
Uhuru issued the order in an attempt to curb concerns that the country's debt was piling.
The Standard further noted that the CBK bulletin had not given a reason for the decline of the parastatals domestic debt share indicating that it came against the backdrop of Uhuru’s directive.
The directive was sent to Treasury CS Ukur Yattani by Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua who was writing on behalf of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The letter had also demanded that parastatals settle all their pending bills in a speedy manner.
“Pursuant to directives to furnish my office with reports on the progress made to comply by all affected State corporations, please note that the government has committed to complete these payments by November 30, 2019. I urge everyone involved to take the necessary measures to meet the deadline,” stated Kinyua in the letter.
After receiving the orders, the Treasury reportedly instigated plans to adhere to it including plans to slash expenditure on non-essential items such as tea.
The plans seem to have hit a snag after the Office of the President and Parliament still spent billions in both foreign and local travel.
Expenditure on non-essential items in government still went up by Ksh1 billion.
