Safina Party Deputy Party Leader Willis Evans Otieno has stepped up criticism over Kenya’s growing debt load and public expenditure trends, saying the country’s financial direction is tightening room for essential services and placing a long-term burden on citizens.
In remarks shared through his X account on Thursday, Otieno said the scale of borrowing and repayment obligations has reached a point where it is now shaping core national decisions, including how revenue is allocated across sectors.
He cautioned that ignoring the debt situation in political leadership debates amounts to avoiding the real challenge facing the country.
“Anyone aspiring to lead this country while pretending the debt question is secondary is wasting everyone’s time.”
Otieno said debt has moved from being a technical economic matter to a central factor influencing governance choices, budgeting, and service delivery priorities.
“Debt is not a side issue you mention in passing, it is the central constraint shaping everything else, taxation, jobs, development, even basic service delivery.”
He noted that a significant share of collected revenue is already committed to debt repayment, leaving limited flexibility for development and essential public services.
“You can’t meaningfully talk about transformation while ignoring the fact that a huge portion of national revenue is already pre-committed before a single shilling reaches schools, hospitals, or infrastructure.”
His comments come as Kenya continues to grapple with rising public debt, which has steadily increased over the past decade due to repeated borrowing to finance budget deficits and infrastructure programmes.
By June 2024, public debt was estimated at about Sh10.5 trillion, before climbing to more than Sh11.8 trillion by the end of the 2024/2025 financial year, representing nearly 68% of gross domestic product.
During the same period, debt servicing absorbed about Sh1.6 trillion, with domestic repayments exceeding Sh1 trillion for the first time.
Development spending remained constrained, accounting for roughly 8% of the Sh4.47 trillion national budget in the first nine months of the financial year.
In the current 2025/2026 financial year, repayment pressures have continued to rise, with Sh941.6 billion spent on debt servicing in just six months to December 2025, consuming more than 80% of tax revenue collected within that period.
Total debt servicing is projected at about Sh2.04 trillion for the year, leaving limited fiscal room for development priorities, with only about Sh29.8 billion projected for development after mandatory obligations.
Otieno also raised concern over what he termed as weakened fiscal restraint, arguing that government spending patterns show declining discipline and poor prioritisation.
“The government looks less like a steward of public resources and more like a machine that has forgotten who it serves. Fiscal discipline isn’t just weak but also abandoned.”
He said ordinary citizens are bearing the pressure of rising costs of living, while opportunities continue to shrink and public spending remains high.
“Citizens are squeezed from every direction; higher costs, fewer opportunities, tighter margins while the system behaves as if consequences are optional.”
Otieno added that there is a widening gap between governance decisions and public expectations, blaming what he described as poor accountability in the use of public funds.
“This isn’t just mismanagement; it’s a failure of judgment and responsibility.”
He further argued that leadership should be judged by its long-term outcomes rather than short-term political gains, saying the true impact of decisions becomes clear after leaders leave office.
“Leadership must be measured not just by intention or narrative, but by consequence. Because when the term ends, what remains is not the speeches or the alliances, it is the financial footprint left behind.”
He singled out President William Ruto, saying that while political terms end, debt obligations remain and continue to shape the country’s future.
“William Ruto will eventually leave office, every leader does. But the debt won’t pack its bags and follow him out.”
Otieno warned that accumulated debt eventually shifts pressure to citizens through taxation, reduced services, and constrained economic growth, making it a long-term national burden.
He also pointed to what he described as rising government expenditure since 2022, including spending linked to State House operations.
“William Ruto's administration has reportedly spent a staggering Sh89 billion since taking office in 2022, with State House expenditures alone accounting for a significant Sh36 billion by March 2026.”
Comparative figures show that during former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure, State House spending averaged about Sh4.3 to Sh4.5 billion annually, totalling roughly Sh45 billion over a decade.
Under the current administration, allocations have risen sharply, moving from Sh8.85 billion in 2023/2024 to about Sh11.3 billion in the same financial cycle, then Sh12 billion in 2024/2025, before rising to a projected Sh17 billion in 2025/2026 following supplementary adjustments.
Treasury records indicate that by January 2026, State House had already used about Sh10.4 billion, surpassing its annual allocation within seven months of the financial year.
Since September 2022, total spending on State House operations is estimated at between Sh30 billion and Sh40 billion, narrowing the gap with totals recorded over an entire decade under the previous administration.
Otieno said these figures raise questions about spending priorities at a time when fiscal space is shrinking and debt servicing is taking a larger share of national revenue.
The government has maintained that borrowing is necessary to support development programmes and stabilise the economy, though critics argue that rising repayment costs are limiting funding for key services.
The ongoing debate continues to highlight the tension between development financing and lon
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