Experts are warning that ongoing securitization of key funds by the current administration could affect funding of essential social programmes in the future on the back of persistent revenue shortfalls. Speaking at a forum organised by the Kenya Editors’ Guild (KEG) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), the experts said Kenya risks eroding its ordinary revenue collection base due to the government having already leveraged the funds to carryout infrastructure projects across the country. One of the key funds which has been securitized is the Road Maintenance Levy Fund where the government has committed Ksh 7 per litre of fuel to enable construction and completion of various road projects across the country. “That means automatically, every citizen who is consuming fuel either directly or indirectly is paying Ksh 7 per litre to repay that debt and the more we securitize those revenue streams, we are utilizing future revenues today and it means we are taking some policy decisions that cannot be reversed even by future governments because we have already tied out revenues into those securitized those debt instruments,” said Alexander Riithi, Head of Programs at The Institute of Social Accountability (TISA). Riithi also called out the mechanism in which the securitization by the government is being undertaken, given that it has been done off-balance sheet with minimal or...
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