Kenya donates Sh300 million to help African countries fight Covid19

Tony Mukere

September 9, 2020 4:30 PM

This comes after it was revealed Kenya borrowed Sh4.5 billion per day in the first 90 days of the Covid menace

Kenya donates Sh300 million to help African countries fight Covid19

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday announced that Kenya had set aside Sh 300 million to help African countries fight the Covid19 global pandemic.

The Ministry's CAS Ababu Namwamba said Sh200 million (2 million USD) had already been donated to the African Union which has been helping its member countries combat the virus.

Namwamba added that a further Sh100 million had been pledged to Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to help in research and control of the virus.

Africa CDC is a public health agency of the AU which helps support the public health initiatives of member states and strengthen the capacity of their health institutions to deal with disease threats such as the Covid19.

"As directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya has donated 2M US dollars to the AU COVID-19 Response Fund and pledge a further 1M US dollars to support the Africa CDC. It should be understood that Kenya is not just a receiver. We receive but we are also keen on supporting where we can in the spirit of continental and global solidarity," Namwamba said.

The development came amid a revelation that the government of Kenya borrowed Sh4.5 billion every 24 hours in the first three months of the Covid-19.

The total public debt stood at Sh6.2 trillion at the time the virus was first reported in the country in March.

Despite criticism that the debt was too high, the government engaged in a borrowing marathon that saw the public debt rise by Sh410 billion to Sh6.6 trillion - in just three month.

The accumulated debt between March and June translates to about Sh136 billion a month or Sh4.5 billion a day.

Tony Mukere