Odinga Claims Ruto Borrowed $1.5 Billion In A Single Day

By Samuel Ouma

Kenya’s Chief opposition leader Raila Odinga alleges President William Ruto’s administration engaged in a suspicious borrowing last week.

In a statement dated June 20, Odinga claimed that President Ruto-led administration borrowed $1.5 billion from local financial institutions last week.

“In a single day last week, the Kenya Kwanza administration borrowed Ksh213.4 billion ($1.5 billion) from local financial institutions,” said Odinga.

According to the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance leader, the single borrowing is almost half the total approved annual domestic borrowing of Ksh438 billion ($3.1 billion) for the year 2022-2023.

The money was also borrowed at a highly high-interest rate of 15.84 per cent.

The former AU special envoy expressed alarm over the timing of the borrowing, which occurred just ten days before the start of the government's inaugural fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2023.

The Opposition Leader questioned the motivation and cost of the lump sum payment, saying the whole amount could not be used within a week.

He claimed that the government's single borrowing has a greater impact on market liquidity than borrowing from the private sector.

Odinga also stated that the loan's high-interest rate will immediately raise rates for the private sector and individuals.

“Why is the regime deliberately locking out the private sector from the credit market? The government having borrowed at 16 percent, the private sector, including small businesses will end up paying very high interest rates of 24 percent or more on their loans. Does the administration understand or care about the impact of this reckless borrowing at extremely high rates, on businesses and individual Kenyans?” Odinga posed.