President Uhuru Kenyatta has confidently defended the Sh5.6 trillion his government has borrowed from China and rest of world since coming into office. Addressing the press during joint interview on Friday 28 December, Uhuru Kenyatta insisted he needs to borrow to develop the country.
"I will continue to borrow to develop the country. If I don't borrow, where will roads come from?" posed Uhuru.
He said that borrowing must be responsible for development but not for consumption. He added that debt only becomes a problem to a country When it is used for consumption purposes.
In his response, the President noted that from the debt, the electricity connection in Kenya has doubled to 60% compared to time he entered into office it was 30%.
Uhuru also compared the debt of Japan and Kenya. He said Japan is one of the countries that has highest debt in the world.
"The issue of borrowing is not bad,it's about how we use the debt. Do you know the debt of Japan? Japan's debt is more than 100% of their Gross Domestic Product," said Uhuru. He assured Kenyans there was no need to be worried about the debts.
The president had faced lots of criticism from some Kenyans about the debt. Musalia Mudavadi had proposed formation of Public Debt Management commission so as to keep government borrowing in check.