Saturday, November 30, 2024 – National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has come under fierce fire over missing Sh160 billion at Treasury.
This is after it emerged that he
cannot account for the billions spent in external debt repayment for the past
three financial years.
This comes as the government
plans to borrow Ksh413 billion in the current financial year.
A Special Audit Report on
the Servicing of External Loans has raised concerns about budgeted corruption,
possible plunder, and wastage of public resources.
In the report, Auditor General
Nancy Gathungu expressed concerns regarding Ksh161 billion in unclear debt
repayment over the past three financial years.
Gathungu reported to the
National Assembly’s Public Debt and Privatisation Claims Committee that there
were discrepancies between the budgeted and actual debt servicing amounts for
the financial years 2020–2021, 2021–2022, and 2022–2023.
These variances exceeded the 5
per cent limit allowed by law, reaching as high as 10 per cent of the approved
amounts for the fiscal year.
According to the
report, the Treasury underpaid by Ksh1. 4 billion in 2021 and a staggering
Ksh83.3 billion in 2022. The Controller of Budget had budgeted Ksh235.3 billion
in 2021 and Ksh339 billion in 2022.
In the next financial year, the
Treasury went over and beyond the approved amount by Ksh77 billion. The
Controller of Budget had set aside Ksh311 billion for the debt reservicing.
On Wednesday, MPs put Treasury
to task to explain the anomaly raised by the auditor general.
However, the Treasury defended the
variances, stating that the fluctuations were caused by the exchange rates of
the Kenyan shilling against other currencies.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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