Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has withdrawn a petition that he had filed against former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his successor, William Ruto, regarding Kenya's debt.
In a statement dated Thursday, April 24, the Senator explained that the petition, which was filed in 2015, was withdrawn for tactical reasons.
“After consultations and given the technical objections raised by the court, it has become untenable to proceed with this petition in the manner that it was. So we have withdrawn it tactically to avoid the cascading disaster that was before us,” he stated.
He insisted that Kenya still had no debt, adding that a new case would be filed.
“However, we are going to refile the same immediately so that we can avoid all those technicalities that were being placed in our way like minefields,” the Senator added.
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In 2015, Omtatah, alongside Nyakina Wycliffe, filed a petition against Uhuru and Ruto over the Eurobond.
In the petition, the petitioners claimed that the two leaders contravened various laws in Kenya, owing to reports that some proceeds of the Eurobond had been misappropriated.
"It is their case that the above-mentioned money was raised for the 2014/15 fiscal year and that USD2 billion of that amount was borrowed for infrastructure development and to repay a syndicated loan owed by the Government in December 2014. They further allege that the remaining USD750 million was borrowed in December 2014 from the International Market through the Eurobond by means of “Tap Sales” to finance infrastructure projects."
"They aver further that the funds were illegally and unlawfully deposited in an offshore account instead of being deposited into the Consolidated Fund as required by the Constitution and the Public Finance Act of 2012, and further, that the offshore account was never surrendered to the Controller of Budget to approve it," read te petition in part.
