President William Ruto has exposed part of the humiliation that African Countries go through to secure loans from lenders.
Speaking while hosting the members of the Africa Trade and Investment Development Insurance(ATIDI) for dinner at State House, Nairobi, Ruto revealed that some lenders often push for their own policies, including the passing of sexuality laws.
He stated that African countries are subjected to such treatment because they fail to develop their own financial pool to fund their own projects.
"It is difficult to borrow money from people because they subject you to all manner of things. 'Do this, go and pass this law, go and pass sexuality laws', things that have nothing to do with the money you are looking for," Ruto stated.
The Head of State pushed for African countries to develop a system to increase their savings and avoid borrowing from lenders who set unreasonable conditions.
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He intimated that Kenya had a poor savings culture and very little to show in terms of personal savings, a situation he claimed to have turned around once he assumed office.
"In our National Social Security Fund (NSSF), we had Ksh312 billion. We have moved it to Ksh680 billion, and by next year, we will triple what we have saved for 60 years in three and a half years," the President stated.
Ruto maintained that African countries did not have a shortage of capital, but lacked the means to organise their resources and use them for their own development.
He further reiterated his call for fair loan conditions for African countries by the international organisations.
His sentiments came months after the enactment of the National Infrastructure Fund (NIF), a scheme that seeks to develop a financial pool to fund major development infrastructure projects.
According to the NIF, part of the money will be sourced from the NSSF and the proceeds of selling the government's stake in major organisations.
Ruto disclosed that the expansion of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport would be funded by the NIF.
