Govt Seeks to Stop Ksh6.9T Public Debt Case

The national government has asked the High Court to temporarily stop the hearing of a landmark petition questioning how Kenya accumulated and managed more than Ksh 6.9 trillion in public debt, arguing that the matter is already being investigated through a separate constitutional process.

In an application filed before the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court, the Attorney General wants proceedings in the case suspended until an appeal against an earlier court ruling is heard and determined.

The government says allowing the petition to continue could interfere with an ongoing forensic audit into the country’s borrowing, particularly the controversial Eurobond funds.

The petition was filed by Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah alongside other petitioners, who are asking the court to declare that the government’s borrowing and management of public debt violated the Constitution. They also want the court to determine whether billions of shillings borrowed over the years were acquired, managed and spent within the law.

At the centre of the case is Kenya’s massive public debt, much of which was accumulated between the 2014/15 and 2023/24 financial years. The petitioners argue that some of the borrowing was undertaken outside the approved budget framework and without proper constitutional safeguards.

More than 20 respondents have been named in the case, including former President Uhuru Kenyatta, the National Treasury, the Central Bank of Kenya and several current and former public officials. The petition seeks to hold them personally accountable for billions of shillings that the petitioners claim were borrowed or spent unlawfully.

In the fresh application, the Attorney General argues that the Constitution gives the Auditor General the responsibility of examining and verifying the use of public funds. According to the government, the Auditor General is already carrying out a forensic audit to trace the Eurobond proceeds and establish how the money was spent.

The State says the court should allow that process to run its course before hearing the constitutional petition. It warns that if the case proceeds while the appeal is still pending, the courts could arrive at conflicting findings on the same issues.

“The verification and tracing of the public funds in question falls within the constitutional mandate of the Auditor General,” the Attorney General argues in court papers, adding that continuing with the petition before the appeal is determined “would render the appeal nugatory.”

The application is backed by an affidavit sworn by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, who supports the government’s position that the ongoing audit should not be overtaken by parallel court proceedings.

The latest move comes only weeks after the High Court dealt the government a setback by dismissing the Attorney General’s preliminary objection. On June 25, a three-judge bench ruled that Omtatah’s petition had raised substantial constitutional issues that deserved a full hearing instead of being struck out at the preliminary stage. The judges directed that the case should proceed on its merits.

That ruling was seen as a major victory for the petitioners, who have maintained that Kenyans deserve a full account of how trillions of shillings borrowed in their name were used.

The case has attracted significant public interest because it touches on one of Kenya’s biggest economic concerns. Public debt has continued to rise over the past decade, with debt repayments consuming a large share of government revenue and limiting spending on essential services such as health, education and infrastructure.

The High Court is now expected to determine whether to grant the Attorney General’s request to suspend the proceedings or allow the petition to move forward to a full hearing, where the legality of Kenya’s borrowing and debt management will be examined in detail.