Leaders of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance have urged the National Assembly and Senate to reject any attempt to raise the debt ceiling.
The coalition led by Deputy President William Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi, and Moses Wetangula announced on Monday that the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury had surpassed the debt ceiling without seeking new parliament approval.
The move, according to the leaders, is in direct contravention of the constitution and the Public Finance Management Act of 2012.
Mudavadi, who read the statement on the alliance’s behalf, claimed the Treasury was intending to submit a proposal to Parliament to lift the debt cap to Sh12 trillion.
Mudavadi questioned whether President Uhuru Kenyatta’s handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga was intended to burden Kenyans with debt and high living costs. In an answer to MPs’ questions about how he planned to deal with the dwindling borrowing window, CS Ukur Yatani stated debt should be limited to 55% of GDP.
Yatani wrote to Parliament on February 3 to alert them of the Treasury’s proposal to modify the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2015 to set the debt cap at the percentages mentioned.
Kenya Kwanza warned the Treasury CS against taking out any more loans during the transition phase, urging Parliament to keep the fiscal deficit within Sh400 billion.
The coalition claimed that no constitutional amendments are required to allow for resource transfer to the counties. Their announcement comes just days after Treasury requested a review of the public debt ceilings, reverting to the former method based on a percentage of GDP.
