The World Bank has given the Jubilee administration thumbs up on how it has managed the economy, but raised a red flag on its commitment to the fight against corruption.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration also scored relatively poorly on accountability and transparency, according to a new survey by the Bretton Woods institution.
In the 2015 CPIA Results for Africa, the global lender ranked Uhuru Kenyatta’s government highly on its debt, fiscal and monetary and exchange rate policies. The Government received above average score for its management of the economy, getting a CPIA (country and policy institutional assessment) score of 4.5 out of a maximum possible six for its debt and monetary exchange rate policy.
The Government’s fiscal, trade and financial policy got a CPIA score of four after the UhuRuto administration put in place measures to improve the business environment. In 2015, the country shrugged off pressure from a turbulent global economy characterised by an unfavourable currency exchange rate to record a growth of 5.6 per cent, up from 5.3 per cent in 2014.
This growth was buoyed by increased expenditure in infrastructure such as the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), improved agricultural yields, as well as increased productivity in the building and construction sectors. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) under the leadership of Governor Patrick Njoroge tightened the monetary policy to rein in runaway inflation at a time when the shilling was coming under pressure from the dollar.
High Risk
“However, in some oil-importing countries (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) inflation eased, reflecting strong external disinflationary pressures from lower food and oil prices,” read the report which also lauded the country for the manner in which it managed its debt levels.
This comes at a time when the number of low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that are considered at “moderate” and “high” risk of debt distress has increased, according to the report. The country was also lauded for its revenue mobilisation efforts, which saw Kenya Revenue Authority improving on its collection target.
But as the country inches closer to the 2017 General Election, the President and his deputy can only hope that voters will judge them on their achievements rather than failures.
The Government scored three in the cluster of Transparency, Accountability and Corruption in the public sector, signalling a government struggling in its war against runaway graft. In 2015, the Jubilee administration was rocked by a number of corruption allegations including the National Youth Service (NYS) scam that saw the department lose close to a billion shillings in a scandal that saw the then Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru lose her job.
The Youth Enterprise Development Fund is also reported to have lost close to Sh180 million with its former CEO Bruce Odhiambo quoted to have pocketed Sh3.3 million from a firm linked to the scam.
Questions have been raised as to whether or not the country lost close to Sh100 billion of the Eurobond funds. While the Government insists all the money has been accounted for, the Opposition counters by saying the Government has not accounted for how it used the money.
And as the Jubilee administration found itself on the receiving for its high-handedness in the way it handled the recent anti-IEBC demonstrations, the report found the country’s adherence to the tenets of rule of law wanting.
Just as in corruption, the country scored a CPIA of 3 on the cluster of Property Rights and Rule-Based Governance.
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