Parliament has failed to check growing public debt

Public unease about the country’s ballooning Sh4 trillion-plus public debt has returned strongly to the centre stage as more Kenyans raise concern about possible impact of the government’s controversial borrowing habits on the struggling economy. This comes after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich recently revealed plans to borrow more big loans, including a “quick-fix” loan, not for infrastructural and economic development, but to repay a Sh77.2 billion syndicated loan taken in 2015.

A second Eurobond is also on the cards to help the government finance its operations and debt obligations, thereby joining the long list of loans the government has borrowed in the local and international markets in the recent past including the controversial Sh200 billion Eurobond of June 2014, part of which was used to repay a Sh60 billion syndicated loan.