Mudavadi says high debt derailing government agenda

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. [File, Standard]

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said high debt service has forced the government to make tight budget adjustments on essential public sector development programs.

Speaking during the Heads of Supply  Chain and Procurement Forum 2024 in Mombasa, on Thursday, Mudavadi admitted that the government has been slowing down the transformation agenda due to the severity of the debt situation.

He said they were keen to avoid public confrontation with the people, particularly the youth, who have protested against the cost of living and lack of jobs.

"This has slowed down the implementation of the government's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, thus stifling our ambitious vision of economic and social transformation," Mudavadi said.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary said the government has taken austerity measures, to improve efficiency on allocation of resources and cut back on wasteful expenditure.

Mudavadi urged procurement professionals to play their role in managing resources.

He said procurement and supply chain management are central to the growth and transformation of the country to a middle-income industrialised nation.

"You can help to improve the situation and safeguard the livelihoods of our people, particularly if you embrace the technological advances driving your industry, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing," he said.

He was optimistic that procurement professionals can help improve the situation and safeguard the livelihoods of Kenyans, particularly if they embrace the technological advances driving the industry, including artificial intelligence, blockchain and cloud computing.

"You should be helping to ease the pain of the Government by ensuring that all procurement processes deliver value for money for the people. Unfortunately, you stand in an awkward position where the supply chain and procurement community is blamed for the most rampant cases of public sector fraud and corruption that have constricted the growth of our country," he said.

The Prime Cabinet Secretary cited some of the grand corruption cases in the country like Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing and reports in 2021 that Kenya lost Sh2 billion daily on corruption, mostly related to procurement rigging, saying the country should never experience such scandals again.

He regretted that the Controller of Budget and Auditor General publish reports on corruption, abuse of office, and mismanagement of public resources every year.

Globally, at least $2.6 trillion is lost annually to corruption, which means corruption eats away 5 per cent of the world's Gross Domestic Product.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) estimates that Kenya loses Sh608 billion or 7.8 per cent of GDP to graft.

Kenya was ranked 126 out of 180 countries in the 2023 Transparency International Global Corruption Index.

Mudavadi said corruption hurts the poor people most because they are denied health services, education, water, electricity, roads, and other services that should transform their livelihood.