Kenya’s government manually withdrew 1.3 trillion shillings ($10.1 billion) over seven months, bypassing the automated financial system meant to ensure transparency and accountability, according to a report submitted to parliament.
The confidential report, prepared by Budget Controller Margaret Nyakang’o for the National Assembly’s Finance and National Planning Committee, revealed that the funds were used for debt payments, pensions, and other recurrent expenditures between July 12 and February 20, the Nation newspaper reported.
The largest portion—893.97 billion shillings (about $7 billion)—was allocated to public debt payments. Nyakang’o raised concerns over lump-sum withdrawals with limited breakdowns, making it difficult to track spending.
“I must raise this issue with the National Treasury in writing because I now have enough data. Why are we still making payments manually when we have an automated system?” she was quoted as saying.
