By Alex Ndegwa

Typical of Kenya’s tradition when elections near, President Kibaki’s administration is on a spending spree and the purpose of payments questionable and justification suspect.

Consequently, the Controller of Budget wants the suspicious loan repayments in the region of billions of shillings, some funneled to ghost facilities, investigated.

In the last financial year alone, Sh729 million was paid to service a loan borrowed in 1978 when President Kibaki was Finance minister to set up a fertiliser factory that was never built.

Of the amount, Sh676 million was the principal and interest of Sh53.7 million, according to the 2011-2012 Budget Implementation Review Report by the office of Controller of Budget. Analysts argue that the KenRen project, given the

exchange rates of those days, was of the magnitude of the Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg scandals over the last two decades.  The figures are, however, only part payments for the dubious KenRen project, which parliamentary watchdog reports indicate will gobble in excess of Sh4 billion, most of it guzzled by interests over the last 34 years.

Records from public debt department indicate KenRen account shall be fully paid in 2015, according to Controller of Budget, Agnes Odhiambo.  This tallies with a 2007 House Public Accounts Committee report showing the last installment of Sh2.9 billion to a Belgium bank is scheduled on June 30, 2015.

Earlier, Sh1.5 billion would have been paid to an Austrian bank on March 31, 2014. The total amount comes to Sh4.4 billion. This adds to irregular payments of Sh953 million the Government made for a computerisation project that stalled in 1993.

PAC Chairman Boni Khalwale was incensed by payments made under President Kibaki’s tenure as settlement for the abortive computerisation of the Customs and Excise Department in 1993 was detailed.

“Former President Moi, who never went to London School of Economics (Kibaki is a graduate of the School) even refused to pay Kenren. That old man might have had a vision for this country,” argued Dr Khalwale.

PAC has recommended that Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) investigate the alleged loss of Sh1.8 billion in expensive short-term money printing contracts with De La Rue over which Transport minister Amos Kimunya is on a spot.

The National Rainbow Coalition’s administration in 2003 cancelled an expensive deal entered by the Kanu regime and set out to procure a competitive agreement.

However, the competitive long-term deal was cancelled in 2006 in favour of expensive single-sourced multiple interim orders that PAC concluded ripped off the taxpayer.

The wastage of public funds appears so blatant at a time the country is expected to tighten its belt to meet the huge expenses to sustain a devolved governance structure.

Parliamentary Budget Office estimates the recurrent costs for the bi-cameral Parliament will increase from Sh6.6 billion to Sh14.3 billion.

The cost of 47 new county legislatures is estimated at Sh22 billion. More expenditure arises from new constitutional order with the Controller of Budget reporting Sh3 billion was allocated last year, to cater for salaries and allowances for constitutional officeholders. The KenRen Chemical and Fertiliser Company has been the most intriguing because it was meant to benefit Kenyan farmers by saving them billions annually in reduced fertiliser import costs. 

Authorities, however, only entangled the country in a debt with financiers – Belgian (Ducroire) and Austrian (Bawag) banks – and the taxpayer was left footing the bills for the phantom project.

Claimants