DP Gachagua warns of Gov’t shutdown over public debt level

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is warning of an imminent economic shutdown as the country grapples with the nose diving state of the economy.

Speaking in Mombasa on Tuesday, the DP said the likely shutdown of the economy has been occasioned by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration that he says plunged the country into economic headwinds.

“We were facing potential economic shutdown. The truth must be said…[there was] huge public debt [of] Ksh.9.6 trillion…Ksh.900 billion in pending bills…Eurobond of USD 2 billion accruing interest at between 12% to almost 16%...those debts must be paid by the people of Kenya,” he said.

Despite the several assurances issued by President William Ruto that the economy was already on its feet, his deputy is seemingly contradicting his views on the single most important issue in the country at the moment

Gachagua blames the huge public debt that he argues has plunged the country into a debt hole, blaming the former regime for being behind the current economic mess.

“All those people who are criticizing President William Ruto need to be honest, are they telling the President and the government not to honour the debts that we found?” He posed.

“These are debts for the Republic of Kenya, although they were not committed by the present administration, they were debts committed by the government of the Republic of Kenya then.”

According to the DP, the current Kenya Kwanza administration is trying to seal the economic debt holes left by the previous government that he says committed the country's assets and liabilities as collateral.

“We found ourselves in a hole, and what you do if you’re an intelligent person, when you find yourself in a hole, you first stop digging and figure out how to get out; that is exactly what we have done – tightening revenue collection, sealing leakages, making sure that every cent is collected to pay public debt,” he stated.

Gachagua said opposition leaders castigating the president over the economic status of the country, want the government to default which would have consequences both local and international.

“Are these people shouting left, right, and centre telling us to default so that we can be blacklisted as a banana republic? Are they telling us not to pay the Eurobond? Are they telling us not to pay what we owe the local banks? Don’t just shout, offer a solution, these debts are on record, we did not borrow, us we were in the forest,” said the DP.

He revisited the State capture talk, which he says was a well choreographed arrangement to defraud Kenyans of billions of shillings.

“We are putting the figures into place so that the people of Kenya know who took what and where...to be fair, how do people expect a government to fix a 10-year mess in one year, a mess of 10 years through State capture conflict of interest outright theft of public resources?” He posed.

The Deputy President now says all eyes are on the revenue streams that he says the government has streamlined through centralisation of payments of all government fees.