Kenya Denies Secretly Taking Sh139 Billion COVID-19 Loan

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani has dismissed reports that the government secretly signed a Sh139 billion COVID-19 loan with Canadian and Belarusian companies.

CS Yatani through a statement on Thursday termed the report published in a local daily as misleading and malicious. 

“Treasury wishes to categorically state that the CS Ukur Yatani did not enter into any loan contract with a company by the name Kallo Inc. as claimed in the article and in the company’s filings with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC),” Yatani said.

Citing filings by SEC, the publication reported that the Treasury entered into the said loan deal with the two companies in June 2020.

The funds were allegedly meant for the construction of mobile clinics and the upgrading of county hospitals in readiness for the rising number of COVID-19 infections in the country.

It said the loan is a 20-year facility charged at an interest rate of two percent plus LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate), which is charged at negative 0.4 percent. 

But Yatani stated that the article by Business Daily relied solely on regulatory filings by Kallo Inc. with SEC and did not include any feedback from the Treasury, which asked for more time before responding.

“There is no evidence that the SEC made such a disclosure to the public, which raises questions as to the accuracy and veracity of the story,” said Yatani.

Yatani asked Business Daily to retract the article with immediate effect and issue an apology failure to which the Treasury will seek other remedial measures.