Raila: Sh9.1bn paid for Eurobond loan

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga during a meeting with the Luo Council of Elders in Kisumu on December 19, 2015. He said, on December 31, 2015, by the time Kenyans were done with the Eurobond loan, Sh110 billion would have been paid as interest. PHOTO | TOM OTIENO | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• Mr Rotich has said that the money was fully accounted for and even recorded a statement with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
• On December 1, the DPP gave the EACC 10 days to investigate government agencies said to have received the money and file a report to his office.

By JOHN NJAGI
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Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Wednesday said the government paid Sh9.1 billion last week as the third instalment for the Eurobond loan.

The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) leader and government officials, including Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, read from different scripts regarding the usage of the Sh175 billion loan floated on the Irish Stock Exchange last year.

“Last week, the National Treasury paid the amount, yet the government cannot explain the whereabouts of Sh140 billion from this loan,” he said in his New Year’s message.

Mr Rotich has said that the money was fully accounted for and even recorded a statement with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

The opposition chief and economic experts have maintained that the figures released by Treasury did not add up.

The Cord leader said a report by the EACC on how the money was spent had not been released, a month after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered investigations into the issue.

On December 1, the DPP gave the EACC 10 days to investigate government agencies said to have received the money and file a report to his office.

Mr Odinga said the payment of interest on the Ksh75 billion component of the loan continues at a minimum of Sh6 billion every six months up to 2024.

“The payment on the Sh200 billion component of the loan, on the other hand, runs until 2019,” he said.

The Cord leader said by the time Kenyans were done with the Eurobond loan, Sh110 billion would have been paid as interest.

“Can we afford this when there is nothing to show for the loan? What are we paying for? What became of the investigations the DPP ordered? How opaque, irresponsible and unaccountable can a government be?” he asked.

He said the Sh140 billion lost was enough to build a Thika Superhighway-like road from Nairobi to Mombasa.

“The Sh791 million lost in National Youth Service fraud would pay for four-year Bachelor of Commerce course for 6,389 or two-year Master of Arts in Economics for 3,000 students at the university of Nairobi,” he added.