Controller of Budget raises red flag over excess Treasury debt withdrawals
By Kenneth Mwenda, July 28, 2026Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o has raised concerns over a mismatch between approved debt allocations and funds requisitioned from the National Treasury for an IMF on-lent loan.
Speaking before the Public Petitions Committee on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, Nyakang’o said the anomaly was identified through the Office of the Controller of Budget’s (COB) routine monitoring of public debt payments.
She told MPs that the COB’s existing debt oversight system already provides Parliament and the public with independent information on government borrowing, debt servicing and expenditure.
The Controller of Budget Nyakang’o said her office publishes quarterly and annual budget implementation review reports covering both national and county governments. The reports compare actual public debt servicing expenditure against approved budgets and are made publicly available.
“The COB already produces and publishes national and county government budget implementation review reports on a quarterly and annual basis,” Nyakang’o said.
She explained that the reports provide a verifiable record of debt service expenditure and help identify inconsistencies between approved borrowing, budget provisions and actual withdrawals from the Treasury.
According to Nyakang’o, any irregularities detected during the review process are flagged in reports submitted to Parliament as required under Article 228(6) of the Constitution.
During the committee meeting, the COB boss presented a nine-month public debt performance analysis showing how her office tracks government loans.
She said the assessment covers both domestic and external loans, including loan principal amounts, interest payments, funds requested from the National Treasury and actual expenditure.
“For every quarter of the year, we analyse this loan data, and then we assess the exchequer issues as a percentage of the original estimates,” she told the committee.
The analysis helps determine whether the government is spending within approved debt limits and whether debt obligations are being met as planned.
Nyakang’o said the review also allows oversight institutions to establish whether debt payments have exceeded budget allocations or whether there are signs of possible payment challenges.
IMF loan figures raise alarm
The Controller of Budget highlighted the case of IMF on-lent loans as an example of how the system identifies warning signs.
She said the public debt performance table showed the principal amount for the IMF on-lent loans as 10, with no interest recorded, bringing the total amount to 10.
However, Treasury records showed that the government had already requisitioned 14.74 within the first nine months of the financial year.
The figure represented 147 per cent of the approved estimate, which the COB described as a red flag requiring further review.
“That is a red flag because you cannot spend more than the total that you owe,” Nyakang’o told the committee.
She said the figures raised questions that needed clarification from the National Treasury and confirmed that her office had already engaged Treasury officials over the matter.
The Controller of Budget said timely reporting enables her office to identify unusual transactions and ensure corrective measures are taken where errors or inconsistencies are found.
“Because of our timely reporting, we are able to flag out when abnormalities are seen within the data so that corrective action can be taken in case it was a mistake or in case there is something wrong,” she said.
Nyakang’o also defended the current debt transparency framework, arguing that the COB’s reporting system already provides an independent source of information that can support Parliament’s oversight role.
She said any proposed debt transparency mechanisms should complement the existing reporting structure rather than replace it.
“This existing reporting architecture offers the committee and the petitioners a credible, independent data source that can be strengthened and better linked to any new debt transparency mechanisms rather than replaced,” she said.
The Public Petitions Committee is examining concerns on public debt management and transparency as questions continue over government borrowing, repayment obligations and expenditure.
Nyakang’o maintained that regular monitoring and publication of budget implementation reports remain critical in ensuring accountability in Kenya’s public finances. She said the COB would continue using its reports to highlight irregularities and provide Parliament with reliable debt expenditure data.