Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has issued a stern call to the government to urgently renegotiate Kenya’s soaring public debt and scrap what he termed as “questionable” agreements with India’s Adani Group.

Speaking during an interview on Kameme TV on Monday, June 30, 2025, Kalonzo cautioned that the growing debt burden is choking development and fueling entrenched corruption.

“Our nation is drowning in debt,” he said. “This is not just an economic issue it’s a moral one. We’re risking the future of our children.”

He singled out contracts signed with the Adani Group, particularly in airport management and energy infrastructure, as examples of opaque dealings that raise red flags over public accountability.

“We rejected the Adani airport deals, and they backed off or so we thought. Now they’re running parts of our energy sector. We still don’t know the full extent of these agreements,” Kalonzo said.

He questioned the rationale behind allowing foreign firms to take over critical national assets through secretive arrangements.

“These deals are worth billions, yet our people are dying of hunger. That’s the kind of budgeted corruption we’re dealing with enriching a few at the cost of the many,” he charged.

Kalonzo painted a grim picture of a system where debt is both a symptom and a driver of institutional rot: borrowing fuels shady deals, which in turn create loopholes for the misappropriation of funds.

“The debt is now feeding corruption, and corruption is feeding more debt. The result is stagnation in healthcare, in education, in infrastructure,” he noted.

As a way out, Kalonzo proposed a comprehensive review of Kenya’s debt obligations and an immediate halt to all suspect partnerships, beginning with the Adani Group.

“We must renegotiate the debt and terminate deals that compromise our sovereignty and development goals,” he said.

His remarks come at a time when public pressure is mounting over government borrowing and the credibility of high-value infrastructure projects.

Kenya’s public debt remains at high risk of distress, with interest payments consuming nearly a third of the nation’s tax revenue. Observers warn that unless urgent reforms are implemented, the debt trajectory could derail long-term economic recovery.

A recent World Bank economic update for Kenya noted some macroeconomic gains, including easing inflation, a stable currency, and rising forex reserves but highlighted deeper structural challenges.

Growth remains sluggish, with the country’s real GDP expected to rise modestly from 4.5% in 2025 to around 5.0% in 2026–27.

The slowdown has been attributed to multiple factors, including destructive floods, high borrowing costs, and waning investor confidence following prolonged protests and development cutbacks.

Although agriculture has shown resilience and remittances have increased, weak industrial output, tepid consumption, and stagnant formal job creation continue to drag down performance.

Kenya’s current account deficit narrowed to 3.1% of GDP in the 12 months ending February 2025, driven by a rebound in agricultural exports and a 19% growth in diaspora remittances. However, key sectors like tea and manufacturing are losing traction, and tourism receipts have dipped.

Despite improving macro indicators, the World Bank warned of persistent structural hurdles, particularly inadequate job creation and low-income levels, especially among young people.

It also flagged revenue underperformance and delays in settling public arrears as risks to fiscal stability, urging more efficient tax and spending policies to support Kenya’s debt strategy.

For Kalonzo, the message is clear: unless Kenya breaks its addiction to opaque deals and tackles the debt problem head-on, economic recovery will remain out of reach.

“We must fix our finances and put citizens first. Only then can we talk about real development,” he concluded.