Kenyan religious leaders roped in to tackle the country’s rising debt

For a couple of days in December, Pastor Jonathan Yosi was away from his New Hope Churches of Kenya attending a workshop on reducing the debt burden in Africa in a hotel boardroom in Nairobi. The presentations oscillated from the rights of citizens as per the constitution to public finance management and the importance of public participation in the running of government. Yosi, who ministers in Imara Daima a few kilometers to the eastern outskirts of Nairobi, followed keenly as experts in human rights and public finance management went through the sessions. “Your advocacy is only as good as the evidence you have,” Joshua Muteti, a political economist from Transparency International told the attendees, pointing at his PowerPoint presentation. During one of the breaks, Yosi committed to use his pulpit to rally against the country’s runaway debt and compel the government to manage it responsibly. “One of the things that I have learnt is just being aware of what is happening in our country concerning debt. This is a very huge issue that we need to look at in a deeper way,” he said. Yosi wasn’t alone. Sheikh Ratib Abdunoor, a Muslim cleric from Nairobi City’s Jamia Mosque who was also in attendance, promised the same. In a country grappling with a debt crisis, Kenyan faith leaders are stepping up to demand accountability and sustainable financial practices and plan on using their pulpits to educate communities about the risks of public debt, following the innovative training in Nairobi. The training, which was sponsored by Islamic Relief Kenya, sought to arm these faith leaders with the necessary knowledge to better advocate for sustainable financial decisions by the government in a bid to stave away the worsening debt crisis. It is part of an ongoing project on engaging African Faith-Based Organizations, or FBOs, to secure an inclusive economic recovery in Africa. Participants included pastors, Muslim clerics, and Hindu preachers. Given their extensive reach in the country, FBOs have had a huge influence on policy and legislation in Kenya for years. Organizations such as the National Council of Churches of Kenya, which brings together more than 16 million Christians, have influenced policy, having been involved in the successful advocacy for multiparty democracy in Kenya in the early 1990s, and advocacy for land ownership and against corruption in the 1970s. It is this wide-reaching advocacy that the Islamic Relief program wants to tap into to address the debt burden. “The main essence of this training is to demystify this conversation of tax accountability, debt accountability, to a language that these faith leaders understand,” Muteti said. With Kenya’s public debt estimated at $81 billion, which is over 65% of the country’s gross domestic product, it has become a worrying issue to its citizens. According to the Institute for Public Finance’s Debt Profile report, Kenya’s borrowing has been occasioned by increased government spending and a shortfall in tax revenue targets. In 2022, the Parliament increased the debt ceiling to 10 trillion Kenyan Shillings (about $77.2 billion) — which was breached in 2023. Salah Abdi Sheikh, a public finance expert, said that the current government ran on a platform to reduce debt but has increased borrowing instead. “They have increased the debt ceiling and changed the debt ceiling into a percentage of GDP, which at this point I think stands at about 67.2% of the GDP. So, things have gotten worse. In November this year, Kenya borrowed about $200 million as new debt,” he said. Sheikh — who is one of the facilitators of Islamic Relief Kenya’s program — said “One of the ways probably the faith sector can help is to push for efficient use of resources, reduction of corruption, and then probably lobby internationally for debt relief.” He added that local communities are not aware of this debt issue and the risk it poses to their own livelihood. “By sensitizing them and giving them information about what is happening, you are creating awareness, which can be used to reform the general management of the resources of the country,” he said. Muteti added that FBOs have historically been fertile ground for mobilization. “So, if the politicians are able to exploit this platform, we can also use this platform so that the faith-based leaders can help the members to understand governance issues,” he said. The training imparts knowledge of how bad the country’s debt is so that religious leaders can address their members from a point of information. It also equips them with knowledge of the channels to voice their opinions. With faith leaders reaching millions across Kenya, the hope is that this movement will spark widespread citizen awareness and accountability measures to curb the runaway debt crisis. For his part, Yosi said he plans to impart his newfound knowledge at his Jamia Mosque and other mosques in the country. “When I say that we’re going to use our platforms, it’s not only to address issues or not just to create awareness for those who come to Jamia, particularly for worship, but we also have influence over other mosques around the country,” he said.