Auditor General owes public a report on national debt

They say ignorance can bring you untold bliss. Until disaster strikes. That’s what happens to folks attacked by their hearts out of the blue. Except heart attacks don’t just happen. Coronary heart disease is caused by plaque, the waxy substance that builds up in arteries, and chokes the supply of oxygen to the heart. When hardened plaque ruptures, a large blood clot can form and block the artery. The blood clot denies the supply of oxygen-rich blood to your heart. Then boom – a heart attack, or angina, occurs. Countries are very much like people – they can suffer a cardiovascular event. Look at Greece – it suffered an economic catastrophe that left it on a virtual deathbed.

But get this – Greece, like other so-called PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain – never saw it coming. One minute they were rolling in the money and living high on the hog. And then poof – it was all taken away. We can blame any number of factors for the collapse.

They are legion – poor economic policies and short-term myopic politics, the greed of the political and business elites, the distortions of the European Union, and the perversity of markets. The list goes on. What matters now is that the patient is in ICU. But just before the crash, there was laughter and jolly everywhere. Until the Titanic sunk. That’s what happened in America in 2008. The Great Recession wasn’t advertised.

Which brings me to my point – is Kenya a country sitting on an economic volcano? Is it possible that we could have a cataclysmic event like a national angina? Leaders keep on touting Kenya’s impressive economic growth at between 5 and 6 per cent. If true, that’s impressive in this global climate, although Ethiopia with all its governance problems has average over 10 per cent for over fifteen years. Even the vaunted World Bank and the IMF have been singing Kenya’s praises? Are they singing lullaby to a baby that has a hidden fatal illness? Do they suspect something could be wrong, but won’t say? Is it ethical for a doctor to suspect, or know, that a patient is sick and then hide the diagnosis?

There is nothing more explosive to a nation’s economy than a mountain of debt. This is especially true for a state – unlike the United States – that doesn’t control its own economy. The US survived the 2008 financial catastrophe because it’s the centre of the global economy. It virtually printed money – quantitative easing – to control inflation and stimulate the economy. That’s not a device that Kenya, or any other small country, can use. That’s why Kenyans have a right to ask – and be told – whether they are sitting at the edge of av financial cliff, or on an active volcano. The problem with getting an answer from the state is obvious – 2017 is an election year. The state’s mouth is sealed.

In the recent past, the World Bank and the IMF warned that Kenya was taking on unsustainable debt, especially from China. That wasn’t the West fighting China because China is an important player in the two Bretton Woods institutions. Rather, it was truth-telling. What worries – and should worry every Kenyan – is how the state is borrowing for various projects like public works, infrastructure, and development of extractive industries. How much debt has been incurred on these mega projects? Take Standard Gauge Railway. Was it necessary? Has the state leveled with Kenyans on its cost? Has the money been put to good use, or is it being looted for elections next year? Shame on us if we don’t demand answers. I raise these red flags because our elites treat public monies like their piggy banks. We know the scandals – Goldenberg, Anglo-Leasing, NYS, and now Eurobond. The problem is that there’s a conspiracy of silence among our elite about the theft of public resources. A scandal is exposed and the country breathlessly hyperventilates for weeks, may be months. And then silence. We move on. The thieves live happily thereafter enjoying their loot – and lording it over us. Except we – the citizens – are left holding the bag. If you doubt me, show one person who has ever been convicted for these mega scandals. This isn’t a Jubilee or CORD issue. The responsible looting elites unapologetically reside in both political parties.

I believe the Auditor General owes Kenyans a report on the national debt. We need to know now what we and future generations owe, and what we’ve gotten – or not – for it. In my own house, I don’t spent money I don’t have. I balance my books, and I don’t hide my finances from other members of my household. The government of Kenya doesn’t have money that belongs to it – all government money is ours. That’s why the state owes us a full report on what we owe.