Azimio la Umoja party leader Raila Odinga has sensationally claimed that the President William Ruto administration borrowed heavily in the last days of the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

In a statement, Raila accused the Ruto of taking advantage of the heated Finance Bill debate to engage in “suspicious spree of borrowing” and demanded clearness on the said monies.

“With the ongoing focus on the Finance Bill providing a perfect cover, the Kenya Kwanza administration has in recent days engaged in suspicious spree of borrowing which the Azimio Coalition Party demands clarity on,” said Raila in the statement released on Tuesday.

According to the former Prime Minister, the Kenya Kwanza Government last week dubiously borrowed a whopping Sh213.4 billion in a single day from various local financial institutions.

“This debt has a number of curious and disturbing features. First, it took place just ten days to the start of Kenya Kwanza’s inaugural Financial Year, which begins on July 1, 2023,” said Raila.

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He alleged that the cash was borrowed at an "extremely high" interest rate of 15.84 per cent.

“This single borrowing is almost half the total approved annual domestic borrowing of Sh438 billion for the year 2022-2023. Last week’s borrowing of Sh213.4 billion came despite the fact that the regime has been borrowing all year,” he added.

Azimio is now demanding that Kenya Kwanza Government provides details on where all the said monies borrowed only a week to the beginning of a new financial year was channeled.

The opposition coalition also wants clarity how the Ruto Government consumed Sh213.4 billion in one week and the impact of that single borrowing on market liquidity in Kenya.

“Why is the regime deliberately locking out the private sector from the credit market? The government having borrowed at 16 percent, the private sector, including small businesses will end up paying very high interest rates of 24 percent or more on their loans.

“Does the administration understand or care about the impact of this reckless borrowing at extremely high rates, on businesses and individual Kenyans?”

Raila also questioned the law the Government used to float a Sh60 billion bond, why the size was allegedly changed midway and the infrastructure projects it will be used to fund.

“Azimio is convinced that that despite the country being deep in debt, the Kenya Kwanza administration is continuing to borrow money at extremely high rates to pay questionable pending bills owed to politically correct contractors, without following the law, in return for bribes,” Raila claimed.

He warned, “We are serving notice to the National Treasury and all ministries involved in this borrowing, that a day is coming, not very far from today, when all these sins will have to be answered for, and some officers may carry individual responsibility.”