Unbridled appetite for debt is driving Kenya to ruin, not prosperity

President William Ruto signs several Bills at State House, Nairobi. [PCS]

Kenya's total public debt stood at Sh11.49 trillion as of April 2025, and by December 2025 it had ballooned further to Sh12.29 trillion - equivalent to 67.8 per cent of GDP, well above Parliament's approved threshold of 55 per cent. Kenya has not only approached the edge of the fiscal cliff, it has actually stepped over it.

Shockingly, President William Ruto's administration is spending nearly 80 per cent of its tax revenue on debt repayment. That should shake every Kenyan awake. When a government commits four shillings out of every five collected from its citizens to paying off past borrowing, it leaves almost nothing for the present or the future. Schools go without desks. Hospitals run out of drugs and roads that should be built remain dirt tracks.