Kenya is in a debt crisis. With the increasing public debt now well over 70 per cent of Kenya’s GDP after breaching three national debt ceilings in under three years between October 2019 to June 2022, Kenya can be said to be in debt distress.
The ongoing anti-government protests that have so far claimed the lives of at least 41 Kenyans, were sparked by the now-withdrawn Finance Bill, 2024.
President Ruto, in his defence, says taxation is the only way out of the vicious cycle of more borrowing, more debt and more taxes to service debt.
On July 5, 2024, Ruto established a task force to carry out a forensic audit of Kenya’s public debt. The team has run into legal and political troubles. A consensus to enable the task force and the Office of the Auditor General to work synergistically in this all-important exercise is urgent.
Ruto cited South Koreans, who when their country found itself in debt distress in 1997, offered their gold and gold jewellery to repay their country’s debt to the International Monetary Fund.
Dear President Ruto, I believe many Kenyans are ready to offer whatever we can, in kind and in cash, to get our country out of debt. But this is on condition of a comprehensive and exhaustive forensic audit of all of Kenya’s public debt between June 2013 and June 2024.
The audit report should explicitly tell Kenyans how much money has been borrowed internally and externally, what necessitated the borrowing, who our lenders are, (most importantly) how and on exactly what every coin from the borrowed money was spent and, lastly, bringing to book anyone and everyone who may have misappropriated, embezzled or misused any coin from borrowed public funds.
Kenyan youth