Think tank wants National Assembly given oversight powers on public borrowing

As Kenya’s public debt rises sharply, having soared above the Sh11 trillion mark, a local think tank is pushing for stronger oversight from the National Assembly to improve transparency and accountability.
The Institute of Public Finance (IPF) says that before the National Treasury or executive secures loans, Parliament should be involved to scrutinise and ratify the debt agreements.
Kenya’s nominal debt stood at Sh11.5 trillion as of April 30—about 68 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP)—well above the 55 per cent debt anchor. Bernard Njiri, Senior Research Analyst for Macroeconomics and Public Debt at IPF, said that involving Parliament early would ensure key loan terms are disclosed to the public and not kept hidden behind government bureaucracy.
“The bigger question is, what have we done with that debt? Do we see any tangible returns? How transparent is the government?” Njiri asked during a media roundtable focused on debt and tax transparency.
Currently, ministries can borrow on behalf of the government under provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, once the medium-term debt strategy and annual borrowing plan are approved by Parliament.
After this, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary only needs to submit loan reports, which Njiri says limits accountability and undermines Parliament’s role.
He argues that Parliament should be empowered to ratify loan agreements before they are signed to avoid opaque deals that may include non-disclosure clauses, such as the case with the Standard Gauge Railway loan, where key information remains unavailable to the public. Njiri also raised concerns about commitment fees paid on undisbursed loans, saying Kenya continues to spend on loans that remain idle for months. “Why sign a loan if you haven’t even finalized project approval?” he posed. The think tank also criticized the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) for failing to update debt data consistently. In many cases, reports are in scanned or unreadable formats, making them inaccessible to the public. Njiri noted that discrepancies between National Treasury data and Central Bank publications add to the confusion, undermining transparency and public trust.
Kenya’s poor debt reporting has also drawn international criticism. According to Njiri, the World Bank ranks the country low on debt transparency due to the failure to regularly publish data on newly contracted external loans. IPF proposes that the government also disclose top domestic lenders, particularly commercial banks, which earn huge profits from interest on government securities. In 2024 alone, about 50 percent of bank profits were tied to lending to the state.