2022 Presidential Debate; How William Ruto plans to Manage Kenya’s 8 Trillion Debt Once Elected Pesident

In an effort to lessen and manage Kenya’s debt, Deputy President William Ruto now claims to have developed a three-step plan that, if elected Head of State in the August elections, he will put into action.

Speaking during the 2022 presidential debate at the Catholic University for Eastern Africa (CUEA) on Tuesday night, DP Ruto asserted that the nation’s debt, which, according to data from the National Treasury, is currently estimated to be around Ksh.8.6 trillion, is wholly manageable if the appropriate steps are taken.

He said that the Kenya Kwanza government will stop all borrowing right away, suspend any projects that are not funded by the government budget, and then look for ways to boost revenue.

“I believe it is reckless for anybody to say we cannot pay our debts. I believe that we have what it takes to pay our debts. We have a plan as Kenya Kwanza on how to manage debt. We will first slow down on borrowing,” he said.

“We will put brakes on unbudgeted projects; in fact, that is the biggest source of our problem. Projects that are not within the budget, so that we cannot keep our fiscal deficit at what we have committed; 5% or 5.9%.”

He added: “We need to raise our revenues. We have areas where we believe that we can raise our revenue. For example, we collect 52% of all collectable VAT, just by automation and computerization, we can actually raise 95% of all collectable VAT.”

According to the DP, automation of collectable VAT will enable the government to collect an extra Ksh.400-450 billion.

“And added on to that, if we raise that kind of VAT, we can equally raise from corporate tax an additional Ksh.150-200 billion. So there is room for us to raise additional revenue for us to manage our debt, without necessarily saying we’re going to negotiate our debt,” he stated.

The Kenya Kwanza chairman added that while the Jubilee government borrowed Ksh. 2.2 trillion during its first term, Ksh. 4.2 trillion have been borrowed since President Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga shook hands.