Sources say Kenya has asked the IMF to look into corruption problems after a push from the West

Two people who know about the situation told Reuters that Kenya’s government has asked the International Monetary Fund to do a formal review of problems with corruption and government. This comes after Western countries pushed for this to happen.

IMF’s so-called “governance diagnostic” looks into whether corruption and weak governance are stealing money from states or causing other financial problems. This is something that the countries themselves have to ask for.

At a planned press conference in Washington, D.C., IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack said, “We have encouraged the (Kenyan) authorities in the past, and we continue to encourage them to request a governance diagnostic.”

“Promoting good governance remains an essential part of the IMF engagement with the Kenyan authorities.”

In the past few years, Kenya’s debt has grown to dangerously high levels, and the country had trouble getting a $600 million loan from the IMF because it had to back out of plans to raise taxes earlier this year, which led to deadly protests.

According to one of the sources, the evaluation had nothing to do with the payment itself but would be a sign of support for the country’s attempts to fix its money problems.

People who took part in the June protests were angry about what they saw as wasteful and dishonest government actions.

When asked for feedback, Kenya’s finance ministry did not answer right away.