Kenyan businessman and presidential hopeful Jimi Wanjigi has unleashed a scathing attack on the government’s “illegal” borrowing and misplaced priorities in a public address on Sunday.
Quoting treasury figures, Wanjigi claimed the government had borrowed KES 768 billion in just the first six months of the current financial year – far exceeding the KES 341 billion borrowing limit approved by parliament. “This is purely illegal,” Wanjigi said.
The businessman turned politician warned that Kenya was becoming “slaves to debt” under a “debt driven economy”. He pointed to plummeting foreign exchange reserves as further evidence that Kenyans have “no confidence in the shilling”.
Wanjigi also hit out at the government’s failure to provide adequate security, citing the recent killing of 53 people by bandits. “In this day and time, how do we as a country lose 53 lives to banditry?” he asked.
The presidential hopeful criticised the planned deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti. “Ruto should visit Haiti and see what the situation really is like before sending our officers there,” he said.
In a stinging personal attack, Wanjigi labelled President William Ruto the “author of the same horrible policies in the past regime”, saying he “continually breaks law” and offers “no hope nor real change”.
The businessman also accused the two main political coalitions of neglecting the people’s agenda in favour of jostling for power. He said his long-time friend and Azimio leader Raila Odinga had put the coalition’s agenda “on hold” after declaring interest in the African Union chairmanship.
Meanwhile, he dismissed calls for Kalonzo Musyoka to take over Azimio leadership, saying the former vice president “has nothing new to offer Kenyans”.
Wanjigi lamented that cunning leadership was Kenya’s “biggest problem”, overseeing policies that have “brought us here”.
However, he struck an optimistic tone by vowing: “We are going to win our economic and financial security future.”
“I will not quit until real change is achieved in Kenya,” Wanjigi concluded.
