Safina Party leader Jimi Wanjigi has urged Kenyans to completely reject the proposed Finance Bill 2026, labeling the government’s new KSh 4.81 trillion national budget a dangerous debt trap designed to benefit international lenders at the expense of citizens. Speaking during an official press briefing in Nairobi on Monday, the opposition politician claimed that the current financial plan prioritizes opaque domestic debt repayments over critical public welfare, healthcare infrastructure, and local economic growth.
The prominent political figure strongly criticized the 2026/2027 National Budget Statement recently presented to the Parliament of Kenya by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi. Wanjigi raised major alarms over the state’s aggressive fiscal strategy to raise an additional KSh 120 billion from already overtaxed citizens to plug a massive KSh 1.1 trillion fiscal deficit. He further alleged that the current administration routinely engages in unconstitutional credit sourcing while hiding financial transactions in secret sovereign bond accounts that entirely bypass parliamentary oversight.
“This entire fiscal framework is a fraudulent trap explicitly designed to choke local businesses by starving them of credit,” Wanjigi stated. “We are officially notifying all domestic commercial banking institutions that future administrations will absolutely not honor or repay these illegal loans because they flagrantly violate our basic constitutional requirements.”
According to official Treasury reports, Kenya’s national debt currently stands at approximately KSh 13 trillion today, with debt servicing alone consuming a staggering KSh 2.56 trillion in the upcoming fiscal year. Wanjigi argued that borrowing heavily from local commercial banks increases interest rates, which directly cripples the private sector and destroys sustainable jobs for millions of Kenyan youth. To counter this unsustainable trajectory, the Safina leader unveiled his alternative economic blueprint, which proposes freezing unverified public debts and replacing the 16 percent Value Added Tax with a flat five percent sales tax.
Financial experts warn that the escalating friction between opposition leaders and the executive arm over national fiscal policy could severely destabilize investor confidence in the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Mbadi has firmly defended the budget as a necessary measure for long-term economic stabilization, but upcoming parliamentary debates on the bill are expected to face intense scrutiny from opposition legislators next week. As public discontent over the high cost of living grows across the country, the fate of these controversial tax proposals remains highly uncertain for the nation.



