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Kenya’s Sh13 trillion debt burden is squeezing public services today and leaving future generations with a costly bill. [File Courtesy]
Kenya’s stock of public debt hit Sh13 trillion in June this year and continues to draw scrutiny from across the board. The concerns vary from whether the debt is sustainable to trillions of shillings which were allegedly acquired without parliamentary approval and that some of the loans cannot be tied to any meaningful projects.
The scrutiny is understandable considering the seemingly insatiable appetite by the government to take loans over the last one and a half decades. In 2013, when the Jubilee administration took over, public debt stood at Sh1.8 trillion and skyrocketed to Sh8.7 trillion by 2022. This has since grown by more than Sh4.3 trillion over the last four years of the Kenya Kwanza regime, translating to borrowing of Sh4 billion a day.
The debts acquired over the years are now having a major impact on Kenya’s budget, which extends to limited opportunities for Kenyans to earn a living. The government cannot provide essential services for its people, despite saddling them with heavy taxes.
