As the general elections approach, the outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta is putting much effort into ensuring that Kenyans understand the decisions he made during his reign.
One of the things Kenyans did not like about Uhuru’s administration was its appetite for loans.
Well, Uhuru came out to defend his loans in his final interview on 7th August.
According to him, the loans his government took were necessary to grow the country’s growth domestic product (GDP). He revealed that Kenya’s GDP had grown 2.5 times more since he ascended to the presidency in 2013.
He went on to argue that the revenue collected by Kenya Revenue Authority was not enough to cater to the government’s operations and developmental projects. He gave an example of superpower countries like Japan and the US, which rely on debts to grow their GDP.
He said, “People talk about debts. No country in the world from Japan to America has no debt. The tax we get is not enough to run government and development.”
He went on to defend his administration by insisting that Kenya is not in a bad debt situation, as his critiques had alluded to. He claimed that Kenya is doing well because it is the only Sub-Saharan African country that has never defaulted its loans since independence.
“People talk about debts. No country in the world from Japan to America has no debt. The tax we get is not enough to run government and development,” said Uhuru.
Moreover, Kenya has used its loans for development, which is okay, according to Uhuru.
He argued that loans are productive for GDP growth if utilized well for national importance instead of corrupt reasons.
Uhuru further advised the incoming administration to consider taking loans if its plans to deliver quality services to Kenyans.
Kenya’s public debt has surpassed 8 trillion US dollars, according to Trading Economics. It has been attributed to the sky-rocketing cost of living in Kenya.
