Treasury CS John Mbadi has reiterated former President Uhuru Kenyatta's claim that government officials steal Ksh2 billion daily.
Speaking during a meeting with tax collecting agencies across the East African Community (EAC) on Monday, November 18, the CS revealed that most of the stolen money is usually transferred to other countries.
Citing Tanzania as an example, he detailed that the said officials moved the money out of Kenya to avoid detection.
The CS divulged that the government officials also found a way to have some of the money brought back to Kenya by road before it is used for the construction of buildings.
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"Some of us steal money and then we go to Tanzania and invest it there because when we invest in Kenya it will be more visible," the CS remarked.
"You also bring some money from Tanzania using vehicles then you come and start constructing buildings around here."
According to the CS, the taxpayers were the most affected by the stealing given that the government had to rely on loans to fill in the gaps of financial deficits in the country.
Therefore, he opined that should the stealing be minimised by even 50 percent, the government would save over Ksh300 billion for development projects.
"If there was such a decision, ridiculous as it sounds, then we would be saving Ksh1 billion shillings a day. This accumulates to Ksh365 billion shillings in a year. This is more than the external borrowing," Mbadi expressed.
According to Uhuru's claim in 2021, Ksh2 billion is stolen every day from the government through corruption. That accumulates to close to Ksh730 billion per year.
In terms of expenditure and projects, the money stolen in a year could construct close to 10 Nairobi Expressways.
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