{"id":4588,"date":"2020-03-20T15:58:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T15:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=4588"},"modified":"2020-03-20T15:58:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T15:58:42","slug":"how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years","title":{"rendered":"How politicians, bureaucrats milked Kenya dry for 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> Kenyan politicians and their cronies stashed away more than Sh300 billion ($3 billion) in foreign accounts between 1990 and 2010, a new World Bank report has revealed.<\/p>\n

The money looted from donor aid during the one-party rule and continued throughout the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) and the Grand Coalition governments, is enough to construct 10 Thika Super Highways.<\/p>\n

The study titled\u00a0Elite Capture of Foreign Aid: Evidence of offshore accounts\u00a0<\/em>showed that billions of shillings taken in the name of millions of poor Kenyans ended up enriching a few powerful political figures, bureaucrats and their friends.<\/p>\n

The report revealed how, for 20 years, a few individuals appealed for aid money in the name of Kenyans, but pocketed it as soon as it landed. In the end, the report stated, the more aid the country received, the fatter the foreign accounts held by corrupt individuals became.<\/p>\n

This loot was either in the form of kickbacks, where well-connected fatcats received illicit payments to facilitate business transactions or was given directly to the corrupt elite, who then swam in opulence as their countrymen went hungry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results are consistent with aid capture by ruling elites: diversion to secret accounts, either directly or through kickbacks from private sector cronies, can explain the sharp increase in money held in foreign banking centres specialising in concealment and laundering,\u201d says the report dated February 18, 2020.In current exchange rates, the stolen money translates to Sh15 billion per year or Sh1.2 billion per month, enough to fund water and electricity needs for thousands of Kenyans.<\/p>\n

To justify the findings, the report found that deposits in offshore accounts coincided with aid disbursements\u201cAid capture by ruling politicians, bureaucrats, and their cronies can explain why aid does not trigger flows to non-havens, why the capital outflows occur precisely in the same quarter as the aid inflows and why the estimated inflows are larger for more corrupt countries\u2026\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cDisbursements to highly dependent countries coincide with a sharp increase in bank deposits in offshore financial centres known for bank secrecy and private wealth management,\u201d the report noted.In the early 90s, when Kenya was in the grip of Structural Adjustment Programmes – a series of economic reforms that resulted in inflation, unemployment and massive loss of jobs – Kenyan leaders trooped to Western capitals with begging bowls, ostensibly to alleviate the pain of the suffering masses.<\/p>\n

But according to the report, the money received never reached its intended beneficiaries, a trend that was taken up by bureaucrats in successive governments.Although the Narc government promised a \u2018clean break from the past\u2019 when it swept into power in 2002, the report\u2019s findings do not\u00a0bear out this promise.<\/p>\n

The study was conducted in 22 countries whose aid disbursements were equivalent to more than 2 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).In Tanzania, politicians and their associates siphoned $586 million (Sh5.86 billion) Uganda came next with $ 270 million (Sh2.7 billion) followed by Rwanda $190 million (Sh1.9 billion) and Burundi $ 122 million (Sh1.22 billion)Among countries identified as safe havens were Switzerland, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Hong Kong, and Singapore.<\/p>\n

The report ruled out the possibility that some of the money deposited in foreign banks could belong to firms that benefited from aid-sponsored spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot exclude the firms benefiting from aid sponsored spending, receive payments in quarters with aid disbursements and posit the funds in foreign banks; however, this mechanism cannot explain why the money only flows to havens,\u201d the report noted.But the bank did not escape criticism.<\/p>\n

David Ndii, a Kenyan economist, said the report did not reveal anything new and failed to explain why the looting happens with World Bank-funded projects.\u201cThe deposits in the havens increase when the World Bank releases money to countries for projects.<\/p>\n

This money is given to international contractors who either evade taxes in their countries or pay it as bribes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: Kenyan politicians and their cronies stashed away more than Sh300 billion ($3 billion) in foreign accounts between 1990 and 2010, a new World Bank report has revealed. The money looted from donor aid during the one-party rule and continued throughout the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) and the Grand Coalition governments, is enough to construct […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,12],"tags":[2459,2460,1031],"class_list":["post-4588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-gross-domestic-product","tag-kenyan-politicians","tag-world-bank"],"yoast_head":"\nHow politicians, bureaucrats milked Kenya dry for 20 years - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kenyan politicians and their cronies stashed away more than Sh300 billion ($3 billion) in foreign accounts between 1990 and 2010, a new World Bank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How politicians, bureaucrats milked Kenya dry for 20 years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenyan politicians and their cronies stashed away more than Sh300 billion ($3 billion) in foreign accounts between 1990 and 2010, a new World Bank\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-20T15:58:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/28\/2020\/03\/budct7heryz9xeteb5e73b9f05203d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"656\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"How politicians, bureaucrats milked Kenya dry for 20 years\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-20T15:58:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years\"},\"wordCount\":649,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/28\/2020\/03\/budct7heryz9xeteb5e73b9f05203d.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gross Domestic Product\",\"Kenyan politicians\",\"World Bank\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/files\/how-politicians-bureaucrats-milked-kenya-dry-for-20-years\",\"name\":\"How politicians, bureaucrats milked Kenya dry for 20 years - 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