Alarm as Kenya’s Ksh13 Trillion Debt Threatens Healthcare, Civil Society Warns

Civil society organisations have raised alarm over Africa’s growing debt crisis, warning that mounting repayments are becoming a public health emergency that threatens healthcare systems, social protection programmes, and citizens’ rights.

The warning was issued in Nairobi on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, during a joint civil society convening and press conference by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Kenya and partner organisations as they launched the Kenyan chapter of the global Freedom from Debt campaign.

The coalition said Africa loses approximately $88.6 billion every year through illicit financial flows while spending nearly $89 billion annually servicing external debt, arguing that the figures reveal a deeper policy failure rather than coincidence.

“These numbers are not a coincidence. These are a policy failure masquerading as bad luck,” the campaign said, as it called for urgent reforms to address the continent’s debt burden.

The organisations argued that Kenya’s debt situation has reached a critical stage, with public debt crossing Ksh 13 trillion in May 2026 after increasing by about Ksh 730 billion in five months.

Kenya’s Debt Burden Raises Health Concerns

The coalition said Kenya’s debt-to-GDP ratio stands at about 69.9%, more than double the 30% level the International Monetary Fund considers sustainable.

It warned that around 70% of government revenue is now absorbed by debt servicing, with the impact being felt through reduced public services, shortages of essential medical supplies, delayed county payments, and pressure on social programmes.

“Kenya pays its creditors nine times more than it spends on its hospitals,” Samuel Kinyanjui, Country Director of AHF Kenya said.

“If your landlord took nine times your rent before you could buy food, we’d call that a crime. In sovereign finance, we call it a credit rating,” Kinyanjui added.

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Kinyanjui added that the country had exceeded acceptable debt limits.

“we are not just over the limit; we lapped it,” he said.

He also pointed to concerns around illicit financial flows, citing billions in suspicious transactions flagged over the past two years.

“The money is leaving. We just haven’t decided to be as serious about catching it as we are about borrowing more,” he said.

Health Leaders Link Debt to Weakened Systems

Health sector leaders at the meeting described debt as a threat to public services and human rights.

Margaret Lubaale, chief executive of the Health NGOs’ Network (HENNET), described sovereign debt as a financial pathogen, eating the body of the state from the inside.

She argued that debt relief could create resources for essential development priorities, including education and healthcare.

“You cannot immunise a child with an (I Owe You) IOU. You cannot treat a patient with a debt repayment schedule. And you cannot build a health system on the leftovers of a financial architecture designed without Africa at the table,” Lubaale said.

Edward Miano Munene, chief executive of the Health Rights Advocacy Forum (HERAF), said the crisis was also a constitutional issue, arguing that rights cannot exist without adequate funding.

“A constitutional right that cannot be funded is not a right. It is a decoration, and HERAF refuses to treat Kenyans’ rights as decorations,” Munene said.

The coalition also challenged global lending structures, saying developing countries face higher borrowing costs and limited influence in institutions that determine financial rules.

Nick Thiong’o, Content Director and Media Liaison at Cause Impact, said African countries pay significantly more to private lenders than to some other creditors.

“The ‘China debt trap’ narrative is great copy and fairly mediocre economics. The real trap has a hedge fund logo on it,” he said.

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Campaign Outlines Debt Justice Demands

The Freedom from Debt campaign presented three key demands: the creation of a borrowers’ forum where debtor nations can negotiate collectively, automatic debt-service pauses during health or climate emergencies, and a proposed one percent levy on artificial intelligence companies.

The coalition said countries should not be forced to choose between debt repayments and essential services.

“When a country is forced to choose between paying a bondholder and restocking ARVs, it is not the bondholder who dies,” Nelson Otwoma, chief executive of the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK) said.

He added that sovereign debt is an HIV issue, warning that financial pressure could reverse years of progress in HIV response programmes.

Youth representatives also criticised long-term repayment obligations, saying younger generations are inheriting debts they did not create.

“We are a generation being asked to repay loans we did not take, for projects we cannot see, with jobs that do not exist,” the youth representative said.

The campaign, launched globally in June across nearly 50 AHF country teams, will also participate in the sixth edition of the African Conference on Debt and Development (AfCoDD VI) scheduled for August 26–28, 2026, in Nairobi.

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A Healthcare Worker administering a vaccination jab to a patient. PHOTO/ File