{"id":112197,"date":"2025-03-20T08:04:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T08:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/03\/20\/kenya-could-settle-all-debt-if-govt-cut-theft-by-half-mbadi\/"},"modified":"2025-03-20T08:04:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T08:04:26","slug":"kenya-could-settle-all-debt-if-govt-cut-theft-by-half-mbadi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/kenya-could-settle-all-debt-if-govt-cut-theft-by-half-mbadi\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya could settle all debt if govt cut theft by half: Mbadi"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 20 \u2013 Kenya could comfortably settle its external debt obligations if government suceeds in cutting down corruption by half.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi made the revelation on Wednesday night while defending President William Ruto\u2019s fiscal consolidation strategy which aims to boost revenue while curbing excessive government spending.<\/p>\n

A major area of concern, he noted, is public procurement, which has been a significant source of financial leakages.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have talked about implementing e-procurement because we lose so much money in procurement alone. Many figures have been thrown around; remember the former president talked about us losing Sh2 billion per day. I once made a joke, which went viral, that if we could just reduce our theft by 50 percent,\u201d Mbadi told Citizen TV.<\/p>\n

The Treasury CS stated that if at least half of the estimated Sh2 billion daily losses to graft is curbed, the country could save Sh365 billion annually\u2014a figure that far exceeds the Sh280 billion in external debt maturing in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are stealing Sh2 billion per day as an economy and we make a conscious decision to steal just a billion\u2026 If you had been stealing Sh1,000, you steal Sh500\u2014although that is not desirable, I want it to be zero. But even then, we would save Sh1 billion per day, translating to Sh365 billion per year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbadi stressed that with such savings, Kenya could fully finance its debt obligations without seeking external loans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the money we borrow externally. External debt this year alone is Sh280 billion, far less than what we would save. So, we will not need to go out there looking for money,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Unsustainable counties <\/h3>\n

Beyond corruption, Mbadi faulted the current devolved system of government, arguing that the 47 counties are financially unsustainable due to the ballooning wage bill. <\/p>\n

He suggested that Kenya should revert to the previous eight provinces or, at most, fourteen regions as the basis for devolved governments.<\/p>\n

Mbadi said that the decentralized government structure has created multiple layers of bureaucracy that drain public resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go to counties and find all kinds of staff\u2014you find directors of fishermen, boda bodas, music, and culture, all earning big salaries, with deputies. We have so many people. And that\u2019s not even considering the fact that 47 counties are just too much for a country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach of the 47 counties has a full-fledged government\u2014a governor, who is like a mini-president, with a deputy who is a running mate, often struggling to find work to do. Then you have ministers\u2014most counties went for the maximum of 10. We have Chief Officers, more than 10, and then we have county assemblies.\u201d<\/p>\n

8 to 14 devolved units <\/h2>\n

Mbadi added that a leaner system would be more efficient in tackling the country\u2019s financial crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would go for a maximum of 14, but even 8 would still serve us perfectly well, with resources devolved to the grassroots. We can devolve resources without devolving the heavy government to the grassroots. It is unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mbadi further noted that the wage bill at the national level alone stands at Sh80 billion per month, amounting to nearly Sh1 trillion annually. Coupled with Sh1.1 trillion in loan repayments, this leaves little room for development.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very expensive government. Today, we are paying Sh80 billion per month at the national level for salaries. Per year, that\u2019s Sh960 billion\u2014it\u2019s approaching a trillion. We are collecting Sh2.5 trillion and spending about Sh1.1 trillion on loan repayment. So where do you get money for development?\u201d Mbadi added.<\/p>\n

Mbadi\u2019s remarks have sparked debate over whether Kenya\u2019s governance structure should be re-evaluated to improve efficiency and cut costs.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 20 \u2013 Kenya could comfortably settle its external debt obligations if government suceeds in cutting down corruption by half. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi made the revelation on Wednesday night while defending President William Ruto\u2019s fiscal consolidation strategy which aims to boost revenue while curbing excessive government spending. A major area of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}