Jubilee government is broke, Raila Odinga claims

Coalitions for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader Raila Odinga has claimed that the Jubilee government cannot deliver on its mandate because it has no money to fund development projects.

Speaking in Malindi on Friday, Raila claimed that Jubilee had failed to deliver on its pre-election pledges to Kenyans because money meant for development has been lost through fraudulent transactions and corrupt dealings.

“What they failed to deliver in the past three years cannot be delivered in the 13 months because they have no money for development. All the money that was to fund projects has been diverted to personal use,” he said.

“At Galana Kulalu, for instance, they injected Ksh7 billion for irrigation and yet they have only harvested maize worth Ksh500 million, meaning Ksh6.5 million has been lost. This is just among the many pockets that Jubilee began but has failed to complete,” Raila said.

He claimed that CORD has an extensive plan to improve the lives of Kenyans, create jobs for the youth and improve the welfare of women and farmers, fishermen, construction workers and tourism.”

“You saw my work during the Grand Coalition with former president Mwai Kibaki. We delivered on a lot of things not like the current government that is only focused on war of words.”

Raila’s claims come just a day after the National Assembly passed this year’s budget estimates of Ksh2.3 trillion – the highest in the country’s history.

MPs had threatened not to approve the budget to protest a case challenging the legality of Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

The standoff was resolved after a meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta his deputy William Ruto and the MPs at a Nairobi hotel last Thursday.

@benjaminwafula