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World Bank must demand accountability
The World Bank Group headquarters building in Washington, DC.
The World Bank was founded to reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity. That mission remains noble. Yet in many developing countries, the promise of development finance is undermined by weak oversight and political opportunism.
Borrowed money can easily be diverted into token projects unveiled before elections, inflated contracts awarded to politically connected firms or patronage schemes designed to secure loyalty rather than deliver public goods. In several developing economies, public works frequently coincide with electoral cycles. Projects are launched hurriedly before elections, only to stall once votes are secured.
When leaders claim credit for infrastructure or social programmes funded by international loans, they distort public perception. Development financed through borrowing must be transparently labelled, enabling voters to assess both performance and prudence. Without that clarity, external financing risks being weaponised for political self-promotion.
The Nyota Fund offers a cautionary example. Presented as a beacon of hope for young people, its rollout has been marked by opacity, with limited clarity about the source and terms of financing. If such initiatives are underpinned by external loans, the public deserves full disclosure.
These are not benevolent hand-outs; they are borrowed funds that taxpayers including the youth will ultimately repay. The method of disbursement also raises concern. Direct cash hand-outs without structured oversight risk becoming wasteful experiments or thinly veiled electoral tools.
When leaders market debt as generosity, they undermine democratic accountability.
Development lending that fails to insist on strict transparency and measurable outcomes does more than waste resources; it entrenches corruption, shields elites from scrutiny and transfers the cost of poor governance onto the very people the loans were meant to uplift.
If the World Bank is serious about its poverty-reduction mandate, it must ensure its resources are treated not as political slush funds but as public trusts. Borrowed billions should build classrooms, hospitals and sustainable enterprises, not campaign narratives.
Lister Nyaringo
