By PSCU
Members of the Kenyan Chapter of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) caucus held a meeting with the IMF mission team to discuss key policy reforms that would accelerate the country’s economic growth.
The caucus chaired by Wajir East MP Mohamed Aden Daud underscored Parliament’s commitment to safeguarding the country from policies that could lead to fiscal distress.
“Parliament upholds the national values and principles of governance provided under Chapter 10 (2) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010,” Daud said.
Speaking during the meeting, the IMF Mission Chief, Ms. Haimanot Teferra urged the MPs to focus on enhancing fiscal sustainability and strengthening the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act.
Ms. Teferra highlighted that the IMF expects the country to focus on governance of key policy reforms especially on preventing the misuse of Article 223 of the Constitution on Supplementary Budgets, strengthening revenue mobilization that is equitable with the aim of reducing the debt burden.
“IMF has high expectations on Kenya’s governance, legal frameworks, implementation of audit recommendations, full compliance of the PFM Act, sealing of corruption loopholes and modalities of addressing pending bills,” Ms. Teferra said.
Baringo North MP Joseph Makilap decried the unpredictability of the National Budget, which he said has hugely affected funding of government programs.
Funyula MP Wilberforce Oundo emphasized on transparency of public debt and the need to carry out an impact assessment before taking new loans.
Kitui Rural MP Hon. David Mboni lauded the IMF’s role in stabilizing the economy but reiterated that intolerance to corruption is the effective path to financial stability.
“Since people want to blame the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, there are loopholes in revenue mobilization in many sectors including border posts which are still using manual scanners. The truth is that if we can reduce corruption by 50%, the country won’t be requesting an IMF program,” Mboni said.
The MPs and IMF mission team also deliberated on PFM reforms geared towards achieving the public debt target, application of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) investments, privatization strategy implementation and securitization.
In his closing remarks, Daud urged the IMF mission team to share their recommendations on the best policy reforms that will not burden Kenyans nor hurt the country’s economy.
“Share with us your thoughts on the legislative reforms on the Public Finance Management Act for this caucus to review,” Daud remarked.
Other members of the caucus present during the deliberations were Caroli Omondi (Suba South) and Robert Gichimu (Gichugu).
Mt Kenya Times