How Ruto, Raila Failed To Stop Rampant Borrowing In Uhuru Govt- Yvonne Okwara

Citizen TV's Business Editor, Yvonne Okwara, called out former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, and President William Ruto for seemingly doing nothing to prevent the increased borrowing in former President Uhuru Kenyatta's regime more than that of the late Kenya’s third president, Mwai Kibaki.

In her NewsGang take on Thursday, April 13, Okwara noted that the Kibaki administration left behind a debt of Ksh1.89 trillion, but in Uhuru's first term, the government borrowed more in two years than Kibaki’s government did in its last ten years.

As a result, the debt stood at over Ksh9.4 trillion in 2022, with the 'handshake' era doing little to stop the aggressive borrowing. As the celebrated business journalist pointed out, in June 2020, the government borrowed an average of Ksh2.5 billion daily.

"Now, here is the common denominator, in all this. Both Raila Odinga and President William Ruto played a key role in the affairs of this country throughout that time," she pointed out, accusing the two of being part of the problem.

Okwara noted that while Ruto claimed that he was sidelined during the 'Handshake' era that began in 2018, he served during former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term in office from 2013 to 2017.

On his part, Raila was also to blame for the crisis because he was one half of the handshake deal, thus had the ability to influence decision-making in the Uhuru government.

"Now, depending on which side you support, I know you will take a side. If you support Raila Odinga, you will likely say that he is not to blame for the crisis even though he was one-half of that handshake. You will say he wasn’t really running the country or making decisions.

"On the other hand, if you support the President, you will likely say that he was sidelined in the last term of the Uhuru Kenyatta administration and it was during the handshake that things went wrong," she added.

Furthermore, she noted that both Ruto and Raila, who have been recently disagreeing on various issues, such as the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) reconstruction, the opening of IEBC servers, and the cost of living, have been in different capacities in government from 2007 to 2023 and at one point worked in the same government as well as had the same political affiliations.

"So, what am I saying? The attempts by both of these men to distance themselves from the past and the decisions that got them here are now exhausting.

"Both men are seemingly stuck in the past and looking for something or someone there to blame for the situation we find ourselves in today. Both ran very fast from their own shadows. Yet both were a part of our past and more importantly are a significant part of our present," she added.

She noted that both the two leaders defended the high cost of living as well as high debt at some point in the past, calling upon them to stop the blame game, stop looking in the rearview mirror, and stop behaving like the squirrel that runs away from its hairy, bushy tail.

On April 13, Raila revealed that he will announce the date for the resumption of protests immediately after the Ramadhan period, claiming that Azimio had not yet agreed to be part of the negotiations and that the government would not stop them.

"The people observed worrying signs of lack of seriousness from the Kenya Kwanza regime to an honest, inclusive and credible process of national dialogue and have called on the Azimio leadership to immediately resume maandamano immediately after the end of Ramadhan," Suba Churchill stated while reading the Draft Resolutions of the Consultative Forum held at Ufungamano House.