Kenyan civil society groups accused President William Ruto’s government of worsening inequality and piling on debt, in a brief delivered to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Fund and World Bank annual meetings.
The NGOs said the administration’s higher taxes, continued borrowing and weak oversight have fueled hardship despite government claims it averted default and is revamping the economy under a new IMF program. Youth-led protests against tax hikes last year underscored public anger, they noted.
“Kenya’s fiscal misgovernance has matured into a multi-dimensional risk system, where macroeconomic fragility, governance decay and social instability reinforce each other,” the memo said, alleging “fiscal capture” in which borrowing and spending choices sustain political patronage over development priorities.
Kenya’s Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, attending the meetings, said he could not comment without reading the briefing. The IMF, which conducted a governance diagnostic in Kenya this year, has said it plans to share findings with the government before year-end. The groups urged the IMF and World Bank to tie support to governance reforms, not just numerical targets.
Kenyan NGOs to IMF: tax hikes, borrowing and weak oversight fuel poverty; tie aid to governance fixes.