The National Treasury is moving to centralize Kenya's public debt records, replacing multiple systems with a single digital Public Debt Data Warehouse. The shift is designed to change how debt is tracked and reported, cutting manual work, removing duplicated entries, reducing errors, and improving the speed and accuracy of public debt reporting, the Treasury said after a progress briefing.
Principal Secretary Dr. Chris Kiptoo received the update from the Public Debt Data Warehouse Implementation Committee, which is overseeing the development of the secure, consolidated platform. The Treasury says the new system will strengthen transparency and support more effective public debt management.
The announcement arrives against fresh scrutiny of Kenya's borrowing. Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang'o told the National Assembly's Public Petitions Committee on Tuesday that continued borrowing without a debt ceiling was exposing the country to mounting domestic and external obligations, and crowding out resources for development. Nyakang'o said Kenya's total public debt had risen to nearly Sh13 trillion.
The project addresses a practical gap in debt administration, aligning a central record with public calls for better oversight. For policymakers and creditors, a single authoritative source for debt data should reduce reconciliation disputes and speed decision making. For auditors and the public, it could make debt trajectories easier to scrutinize.
The Treasury received the implementation committee's progress update, signaling continued work toward deployment. Officials did not provide a timetable in the briefing, leaving the pace of rollout and the platform's immediate impact on reporting still to be determined.
