CAPTION: The IMF app page on Google Play Store on Friday night: Ratings dropped to 1.0 Stars Kenyans have taken their feud with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to another level and now shifted focus to the international lender's mobile phone app whose ratings dramatically dropped on Friday.
This unprecedented plummet in ratings was courtesy of negative reviews by a swarm of angry citizens who have in the past week been relentless in calling on the IMF not to give in to the government's appetite for borrowing.
The irate Kenyans have been camping on the Facebook and Twitter accounts of the IMF and even sponsored an online petition, directing the financial institution to cease lending government money over accusation of corruption and impunity in the irregular spending of the loans.
Their raid on the IMF app on PlayStore saw it drop from a 4.5 to just a mere 1-star rating in a matter of hours. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Kenya has borrowed more than Sh1 trillion, money intended to bolster the healthcare system and revitalize the economy through the storm of the pandemic.
However, of concern to Kenyans is how much of that money fell into controversy after overspending and corruption-related claims dominated as evident in the early stages of the pandemic.
By end of April 2020, one and a half months after the first case was recorded, the Ministry of Health had spent Sh1.3 billion even though the approved budget was Sh976.8 million.
On Thursday Kenyans also raised almost a quarter of a million shillings in a few hours towards anti-IMF loan crusader Mutemi Kiama’s hefty cash bail.
Kiama was arrested over two posters warning the International Monetary Fund against issuing further loans to Kenya, more directly to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.
Kiama was accused of contravening various provisions of the draconian Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, including false publication.