If Gov’t officials reduce theft by 50%, we can pay our external debt – Treasury CS Mbadi

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has expressed optimism that Kenya can easily meet its external debt obligations if the government reduces corruption-related losses by just 50%.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s JKLive Show on Wednesday, Mbadi stressed that the ongoing fiscal consolidation strategy at the exchequer is focused on both increasing revenue and reducing excessive government expenditure.

One of the key areas identified by Mbadi is public procurement, which he noted has been a major source of financial leakages.

“We have talked about coming up with e-procurement because in procurement alone we lose so much money,” he said.

Further, Mbadi referenced a past statement by former President Uhuru Kenyatta who claimed that Kenya loses up to Ksh.2 billion daily due to corruption.

Mbadi argued that if this figure is true, then reducing that shortfall by even half alone could save Kenya a staggering Ksh.365 billion annually.

“A lot of figures have been thrown around; remember the former president talked about us losing Ksh.2 billion per day. I made a joke one time which went viral, that if we could just reduce our theft by 50 percent…” said the Treasury CS.

“If we are stealing Ksh.2 billion per day as an economy and we make a conscious decision that we steal a billion…if you had been stealing Ksh.1,000, you steal Ksh.500, although that is not desirable. I want it to be 0, we will be saving Ksh.1 billion per day which translates to Ksh.365 billion per year.”

This figure, he noted, far exceeds the Ksh.280 billion external debt Kenya has incurred in 2025 alone.

According to Mbadi, if the government can reduce corruption-related losses, it could cover its debt obligations without the need for external borrowing.

“That is the money we borrow externally. External debt this year alone is Ksh.280 billion far much less than what we will save so we will not go out there looking for money,” he noted.