Senate · Morning Sitting

Clerk, do we have quorum? Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly, ring the Quorum Bell for 10 minutes. Serjeant-at-Arms, kindly, ring the Quorum Bell for another 10 minutes. Hon. Senators, kindly, settle down. We now have quorum, so we will proceed with the business of the day. Clerk, please, proceed to call the first Order.

[(The Clerk-at-the-Table consulted with the Speaker)]

[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]

[(The Quorum Bell was rung)]

Hon. Senators, I would like to acknowledge the presence of a visiting delegation of five teachers and 28 students from Kilimani Senior School in Nairobi City County,

who are seated in the Public Gallery this morning. The delegation is visiting the Senate for an academic exposition. On behalf of the Senate and on my own behalf, I extend a warm welcome to the delegation and wish them a fruitful visit. I call upon Sen. Eddy Oketch to extend a word of welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. This is a very special delegation to us, as a House, especially because we have seen a number of things happening in our schools today that we did not expect. It is amazing to see many students who are committed to continuing with learning despite the pressure that they are facing. I want to wish you a very good visit here and give you the courage that education is a …

Next Order.

The Senate Majority Leader.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. On behalf of the Senate Majority Leader, I beg to lay the following Paper on the Table of the Senate today, Wednesday, 17th June, 2026- The County Government Equitable Share Cash Disbursement Schedule for the Financial Year 2026/2027.

[(Sen. Wafula laid the document on the Table)]

Next Order.

Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to give notice of the following Motion on reconstitution of Standing Committees- THAT notwithstanding the resolution of the Senate made on 12th February, 2025 on the approval of Senators to serve in various Standing Committees of the Senate, and pursuant to Standing Orders No.197, 199, 228 and the Fourth Schedule to the Standing Orders; the Senate approves the following S…

Next Order.

Could the Cabinet Secretary outline the fiscal and other policy interventions by the Government to address the slow growth in agriculture, construction and services sector, and its ripple effect on employment levels and country level fiscal performance, amongst others? Could the Cabinet Secretary also outline the safeguards in place to ensure that the Government's fiscal consolidation programme do…

Could the Cabinet Secretary provide information on Kenya's current stock of domestic and external debt and disclose the debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio? What measures are in place to ensure that funds raised through borrowing are utilised effectively and translate into tangible development outcomes across the country? Could the National Treasury consider developing a publicly accessible…

Cabinet Secretary.

The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic (Hon. John Mbadi): Thank you. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I have tried to condense these two into five pages, so I will move quickly through them. The first Question is about interventions that the Government is taking to address the slowed growth across various sectors of the economy.

I would like to state that in our 2026/2027 economic outlook, we prepared our budgets, which have been shaped by heightened global uncertainty following the output of conflict in the Middle East in late February, 2026. However, in addition to this, we are just recovering from drought and we are still dealing with the effects of the Russia- Ukraine War. These conflicts have disrupted global commodi…

On debts, the current debt stock of domestic and external debt and debt to GDP ratio as at February, 2026 is as follows- The stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt stood at about 12.842 trillion, which is equivalent to 69 per cent of the GDP as at February, 2026. The public debt comprises a mix of domestic debt of Kshs7 trillion and external debt is Kshs5.779 trillion. What measures are we…

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for summarising your answer in a very effective way. Sen. Ojienda, do you have any supplementary question?

Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, given that the Cabinet Secretary has indicated that he has a full menu of responses on the guidelines in the budget speech, I think I will pay a visit to him, so that I get the full text summarised as it deals with other issues.

Professor, I am sure you are aware that it is probably online and you can access it without visiting the Cabinet Secretary.

I will save him time because he is an expert and my former party leader.

Honourable Senators, I will be taking supplementary questions. I remind the Senators who are going to ask questions to stick to the primary question raised. Do not go out of topic. Because of time, also keep your questions short and precise so that the Cabinet Secretary can have time to reply.

Thank you, Mr. Temporary, Speaker, Sir. The Cabinet Secretary has spoken about very serious numbers here. There are two numbers that have drawn my attention which now leads to my question. The first number is Ksh7 trillion of public debt in the domestic market and the 69 per cent debt to GDP ratio, which just shows a very aggressive public debt servicing. Cabinet Secretary, you have not mentioned …

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. CS John Mbadi, I am happy because this is the first time I have been in this House when you are here, ever since the President appointed you. So, I congratulate you for your job. He has raised the issue of the debt stock ratio vis-à-vis the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) . The CS is aware that the President has announced that the Kenyan Government is going to …

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. A quick one, on the response to Question No.29, part (c) . CS, allow me to say that I am happy to hear that you are developing a mechanism to link debt to development outcomes. The question is, if that mechanism does not exist today, with the trillions of shillings that we are borrowing almost on a monthly basis, how is the National Treasury able to measure …

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. At least, the CS has finally appeared before this Senate. Mine is a quick one. Waziri, of these Kshs12.84 trillion, I have seen you have indicated domestic debt is Kshs7.06 trillion and external debt is Kshs5.79 trillion. What is the total debt that President Uhuru Kenyatta borrowed between 2013 and 2022? This is so that we do not lump it to President William…

Thank you, Sen. Cherarkey. Proceed, Sen. Abbas. Order, Senators. Sen. Cherarkey, take your seat.

[(Loud consultations)]

Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. Mine is a concern that, from the response of Waziri, some of the interventions outlined are on agriculture, forestry and fishing. Of course, the larger economy that is being driven by the livestock sector, where 10 million people are surviving on, has not been mentioned. So, why is it that the focus is only on agriculture which remains the backbone of the eco…

There is provision of subsidies of fertilisers, seeds, expansion of rehabilitation of irrigation, provision of climate resilience and support of agro-processing but nothing on livestock. What is the position?

Thank you, Senator. Cabinet Secretary, you may respond. The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning : Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I see Sen. Tom Ojienda has left. However, I will not have any problem having a cup of tea with him in my office, just to discuss and break my budget speech into more details. On issues that were raised by Sen. Eddy, through the Te…

[(Hon. John Mbadi)]

On the issue that has been raised by Sen. Sifuna, I do not want to go into other details but to focus the issue of the cost of energy. What we have said here is that the Government has prioritised stabilisation in electricity supply. Before you go to the cost, the first thing is to guarantee supply because if there is no supply, the cost will definitely be high. The basic principle of micro-econom…

Sen. Cherarkey, I discourage us from comparing the absolute numbers of debts.

Sen. Wambua, I guided the House that I will only take interventions once he has answered all the questions. Proceed, Cabinet Secretary. The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning (Hon. Mbadi) : Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, on Sen. Cherarkey, my brother, I wanted to persuade ourselves from comparing absolute numbers. Actually, the best way to measure debt is to look at it…

I want to conclude by saying; let no one lie to Kenyans that we will be reducing our debt stock. What we can reduce is debt to GDP ratio, which is now at 69 per cent, but at 66 per cent in present value terms. We should go to 55 per cent in present value terms. Once we go to 55 per cent of present value terms, debt becomes sustainable. There is no country in the world that will reduce its debt sto…

[(Loud consultations)]

Hon. Senators, let us have some order. Cabinet Secretary, I want to thank you for coming to respond. There is only one question by Sen. Abass on issues of livestock, which you have not responded to. I will be asking him to visit your office. I thank you. You are free to leave.