Report slams Parliament for weak oversight as debt chokes taxpayers

Parliament during a past session. [File, Standard]

A damning report by the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) accuses Parliament of failing to fulfill its constitutional duty regarding government borrowing, leading to a ballooning national debt and a future burden on taxpayers.

The report, argues the Kenyan Parliament kowtows to Executive, adding that it has abdicated its responsibility to scrutinise and approve foreign loans before they are contracted.

“In the financial year 2023-2024, the government took out 36 new foreign loans amounting to Sh898 billion. 27 were from multilateral lenders, six from commercial banks and three from bilateral lenders. Last year Kenya paid over half a trillion shillings in external principal repayments; in 2024 over 330 billion falls due. Between 2025 and 2027, the National Treasury must repay over 1.5 trillion shillings to foreign creditors,” says Africog.