Fact-check: Did William Ruto get his facts right during presidential debate?

Claim 2: We have 15 million Kenyans who are blacklisted in CRB

Sammy Omukoko, the managing director at Metropol Corporation - one of the three licenced CRBs alongside TransUnion and Creditinfo International - told the Standard in mid-May 2022 that just about two million borrowers were blacklisted.

"We have 19 million Kenyans listed in the CRB, out of which 17 million are eligible borrowers but over 2 million of them are defaulters and therefore cannot access loans from any financial institution," said Mr Omukoko.

Being listed means having one's particulars, in regards to risk profile, with CRBs. Being blacklisted only applies when ones' profile is marked as a defaulter.

Metropol had in February said 14.03 million loan accounts had been blacklisted. It is possible for one to have more than one loan account and this means the number of blacklisted loan accounts is not always equal to the number of blacklisted people.

We rate Dr Ruto's claim as incorrect.

Claim 3: In our first term, we borrowed Sh2.2 trillion

Jubilee administration's first term started in March 2013 and ended in August 2017. National Treasury data shows total debt grew by Sh2.65 trillion from Sh1.794 trillion to Sh4.445 trillion.

We rate Dr Ruto's claim as understated since the figure he gave is Sh451 billion lower.

Claim 4: From 2017, our handshake brothers have borrowed Sh4.2 trillion

Raila and Uhuru's handshake happened on March 9, 2018. Debt in March 2018 was Sh4.884 trillion and hit Sh8.563 trillion in May 2022. This translates to a rise of Sh3.679 trillion.

We rate Dr Ruto's claim as overstated since the figure he gave is Sh521 billion higher.

Claim 5: Almost 80 per cent of our borrowing is actually domestic

Kenya's total public debt was Sh8.563 trillion, according to the latest data from the Treasury.

Domestic is Sh4.268 trillion or 49.8 per cent of total debt while external borrowing is Sh4.295 or 50.2 per cent of total debt.

We, therefore, rate Dr Ruto's claim as incorrect.

DP William Ruto speaks at CUEA, Karen, after the presidential debate. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Claim 11: Transfer of functions was done in a year instead of three years. We completed that exercise in a record one year instead of three years.

Article 15 (1) of the sixth schedule provided for a three-year window from the date of the 2013 general elections for the transfer of functions from the National to County Governments.

However, in 2016 the Transitional Authority (TA) wrote to Parliament asking for an extension of its term for three years to complete its work.

The TA's pending work included an audit of assets and liabilities owed by the defunct local authorities as well as an audit of all pending bills. A Bill at the Senate to extend the Authority's term has stalled for the last seven years.

We rate Ruto's claim as incorrect.

Claim 12: The government of Kenya is in court in London, sued by the contractor for Sh12 billion over the Arror and Kimwarer dams.

In December 2020, the contractors hired to build the Arror and Kimwarer dams CMC Di Ravenna Societa Cooperativa, Itinera SPA and CMC Di Ravanna-Itinera JV SCPA lodged arbitration proceedings against the Kerio Valley Development Authority at the International Chamber of Commerce.

They are seeking for $114.1million (Sh13.5 billion) plus costs of the case and expenses to be incurred by its lawyers during the hearing.

We rate Ruto's claim as correct.

-Fact checks by Patrick Alushula, Ronald Bett and Frankline Sunday