NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 – Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has challenged the World Bank’s latest assessment of corruption in Kenya, accusing the international lender of focusing on procurement irregularities while ignoring what he describes as a deeper problem involving government borrowing and the management of public funds.
In a statement titled Sen. Omtatah’s Musings on the World Bank’s Recent Misleading ‘Expose’ on Corruption in Kenya, the senator argued that corruption through public expenditure was only part of the problem, claiming that questionable borrowing arrangements had created opportunities for billions of shillings to be accessed and spent outside Parliament’s effective oversight.
Omtatah questioned the World Bank’s position on corruption, arguing that its focus on procurement allowed the institution to avoid scrutiny over its own lending arrangements with the Kenyan government.
“Though most welcome, the World Bank’s sea of crocodile tears, on the opportunity cost of corruption on Kenyans, is inviting us to look only at the lesser evil – procurement – which is theft on the expenditure side of the equation where the institution plays absolutely no role, allowing the bank, which is totally complicit in the heist, to hide in open view,” he said.
The senator maintained that the more significant concern was the revenue side of public finance, particularly loans allegedly contracted without corresponding expenditure provisions in the Appropriations…
