A mission from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is currently in Kenya for follow-up discussions on its governance diagnostics programme from which it hopes to present a report to the government by the end of this year.
The governance diagnostics (GD) programme analyses and recommends actions for addressing systemic corruption vulnerabilities and strengthening integrity and governance in IMF member countries.
The mission which is at the request of the government follows earlier discussions in March which discussed a roadmap of the GD programme.
The mission which began earlier this week is expected to run until June 29,2025 according to a source from the fund.
The mission is however not expected to put out a statement after the mission while the disclosure of its final report expected by the end of this year will be at the liberty of the Kenyan government.
“A GD is voluntary for both, a member country and the IMF, and is an IMF capacity development activity. Initiated on request from authorities and subject to resource availability, IMF staff discuss the scope and timing of delivering a GD upfront with the authorities,” the IMF notes.
“At times a call for a GD may arise during IMF lending and surveillance activities and remains a voluntary exercise in such cases.”
Governance diagnostics are conducted through a series of stages including a scoping mission, main mission, and desk work.
During the scoping mission, IMF staff frame the remit of the main mission and reach an agreement with the authorities on the focus areas.
The main mission which follows the planning mission, is centred on assessing the substantive governance weaknesses and corruption vulnerabilities within core state functions.
The main mission concludes with the production of a comprehensive report that outlines the findings and recommendations.
The number of visits required on the main mission is not specified and is usually dependent on the scope of work required.
A different IMF mission is expected in September, covering Article IV consultations which are usually a regular health check of member countries and include discussions that focus on the exchange rate, monetary, fiscal, and financial policies, and structural reforms.
Kenya is set to use the Article IV consultations to push for a newly funded programme with the fund after the untimely termination of a previous arrangement on missed performance targets.
“We are expecting an IMF team to come in September to start discussions on Article IV consultation. At that time, we will also engage them with regards to a new arrangement,” Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Kamau Thugge said in a news conference on June 11.
