Kenya’s problem is not poverty, Okiya Omtatah says—it is borrowed cash that never faces Parliament, and a legislature too compromised to ask where it went.

By Ndiritu Wanjiru, published by People Daily

In Brief by Probe International

Kenya is not broke, Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah insists—it is undisciplined.

In a radio interview this week, he argued that the country’s squeeze is not a shortage of wealth but a habit of borrowing first and accounting later. “This country is very rich; we just need financial discipline,” he said.

The numbers, as he tells them, are the scandal. The government has borrowed about Ksh5.9 trillion, he said, while Parliament authorized far less through the budget.

“The budget Parliament passed was fully financed, and those loans were taken and don’t have a view. What did the extra 4.9 trillion do?” That gap, he argued, is not a rounding error. Under Section 50(7) of the Public Finance Management Act, money can sit offshore while the debt still lands on Kenya’s books.

Omtatah wants the legislature to stop playing captive and start asking where the cash went.

“This money that has been borrowed, this money is used to compromise Parliament. We are held captive,” he said. Put officials “in the dock,” demand answers, and tie every shilling to an appropriation the public can see. A rich country, says Omtatah, does not need more loans so much as a Parliament that will not be bought with them.

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