A Senate investigation into the contentious Sh150 billion loan Kenya received from the World Bank has begun.
This follows claims that Kenya secured the funds after committing to assimilate 400,000 refugees.
Nominated Senator Crystal Asige sought to ascertain whether the claim was true.
“I rise to seek a statement from the Standing Committee on Finance and Budget regarding the Sh156 billion loan advanced to Kenya by the World Bank with the condition of integrating 400,000 refugees,” Asige said.
The lawmaker requested the Finance Committee, led by Mandera Senator Ali Roba, to determine and justify why the loan should be tied to the migrants.
She wants the committee to establish the origin of the 400,000 refugees.
“The committee should confirm whether the Sh156 billion is a loan or a grant,” the lawmaker added.
In addition, the committee, which is set to summon National Treasury officials, will establish any correlation between the loan and the integration of these refugees.
“The committee should explain why they (the refugees) are in Kenya now and the criteria and parameters of their being in Kenya,” she said.
Integration means that the refugees will have rights similar to those enjoyed by Kenyans. Some may even attain citizenship.
Speaker Amason Kingi directed the committee to immediately swing into action and establish the fact or otherwise of the claim.
Currently, Kenya hosts refugees from neighbouring countries, with around 623,500 registered refugees and asylum seekers present in the country by the end of October 2023.
Most of them live in Dadaab and Kakuma.
Some 86 percent of these refugees are from Somalia and South Sudan.
In 2021, the government announced it would close Dadaab and Kakuma, which hosted over 500,000 refugees.
In May, Kenya received a loan of $1.2 billion (Sh156 billion) from the World Bank to help the country address short-term fiscal pressures and accelerate green initiatives.
The new $1.2 billion Kenya Fiscal Sustainability and Resilient Growth Development Policy Operation (DPO) was the first in a series of three.
According to the multilateral lender, it has been prepared under an improved macroeconomic environment following government action to address the challenges that had overshadowed the economy.
They include tight liquidity pressures, depressed investor confidence, and limited capital inflows that have resulted in a rapidly depreciating shilling.
A Development Policy Operation (DPO) is a financial instrument by the World Bank to provide budget support to countries for policy and institutional reforms.