PRESS STATEMENT BY SENATOR OKIYA OMTATAH ON THE PUBLIC DEBT CASE RULING
Fellow Kenyans,
Today, the High Court delivered an important ruling in our public debt case.
The Court upheld the @IMFNews claim of diplomatic immunity and struck it out of this petition. While we respect the Court’s decision, accountability for Kenya’s debt burden cannot end there.
We are preparing a separate legal challenge to the Bretton Woods Agreements Act, 1963, against the Constitution of Kenya 2010 to ensure all actors involved in Kenya’s debt processes are subjected to proper scrutiny.
Most importantly, the Court rejected attempts by the Attorney General and other respondents to have this case dismissed. The judges ruled that our petition will proceed to a full hearing on its merits.
The Court also dismissed applications by the former Auditor General, former Controller of Budget, the current Auditor General, and the current Controller of Budget seeking to shield themselves from these proceedings.
This is a significant victory for transparency, accountability, and the Kenyan people.
We will amend our petition as directed by the Court and return on 22nd July 2026. Our mission remains unchanged: to establish how Kenya accumulated trillions in public debt, how the funds were utilized , whether the public benefited and whether the law was followed at every stage.
This case is about protecting the future of our nation and the interests of every Kenyan taxpayer.
We remain focused, determined, and committed to seeing it through.
God Bless Kenya.
#DeniBandia #OdiousDebt
Kenyans deserve justice that is transparent, reasoned, and accountable.
Today, I have petitioned the Judicial Service Commission @jsckenya to investigate three Court of Appeal judges who suspended High Court orders blocking the Kenya-US Health Cooperation Framework, but withheld their reasons for doing so until October 2026.
My concern is not that they ruled against me. It is that an immediately enforceable decision was issued without reasons, effectively frustrating a timely appeal to the @THE_SCOK and denying Kenyans meaningful access to justice.
Judicial independence must be protected. But independence and accountability must go hand in hand. No institution is above the Constitution.
THE HUMBLE PETITION OF OKIYA OMTATAH OKOITI LINK>
https://t.co/36xc3OZdNh
On this day, 18 years ago, on 12 May 2008, I published my first article in the @NationAfrica challenging the injustice of odious debt.
I argued then, as I do now, that debts incurred against the interests of the people cannot morally or legally be imposed on generations that never consented to them.
Africa must stop begging for relief from debts designed to enrich a few and impoverish millions. We must audit, question, repudiate, and prosecute where necessary.
Odious debt is not development. It is economic capture. The struggle continues.
#DeniBandia #ReKe #OdiousDebtKe
Harry Truman once said: “The only thing new in the world is the history you do not know.”
Fellow Kenyans, our crisis did not begin yesterday.
The looting. The illegal debt. The betrayal of the Constitution. The collapse of public services. The silence of career politicians. These are old scripts repeated by leaders who believe Kenyans forget quickly.
They believe another scandal will trend. Another distraction will come. Another funeral, another handshake, another coalition, another slogan.
Meanwhile, you pay more taxes for debts you never approved and never benefited from.
Between 2014 and 2024, Kenya borrowed Sh9.11 trillion. Only Sh2.57 trillion received proper parliamentary approval. The remaining Sh6.54 trillion is odious debt, unconstitutional borrowing forced onto the backs of struggling citizens.
This is why food prices rise while wages stagnate. This is why hospitals lack medicine while billions disappear. This is why schools decline while politicians grow richer. This is why young people graduate into hopelessness.
And while Kenya bleeds, legacy politicians remain silent. Many are not fighting to fix the system. They are fighting to inherit it.
They criminalize protesters. They weaponize police. They reward political loyalists with advisory jobs funded by taxpayers. They protect corruption networks while ordinary Kenyans suffer.
We go to court because the Constitution is the last line of defense between the people and organized state plunder.
From the struggle for independence in 1963, to Saba Saba, to the 2010 Constitution, every generation of Kenyans has been called to defend freedom against greed and impunity. History is watching us now.
If we remain silent while our country is looted, future generations will remember us as the people who watched Kenya collapse and did nothing.
Read history. Defend the Constitution. Reject fear. Reject silence. Reject thieves disguised as leaders.
We must be a nation that reads, remembers, and refuses to be misled by the same old tricks. Know your history, defend your rights, and let us not be "newly" surprised by what we should have already learned.
Kenya istahili heshima
#OdiousDebt
#ReKe
#Constitutionalism
A doctorate in jurisprudence is supposed to signify intellectual rigor, ethical discipline, a grasp of constitutionalism, not a license for verbal hooliganism or the tacit endorsement of violence.
To act like a common ruffian while draped in academic regalia is not just hypocrisy; it’s a contemptible prostitution of education. It proves that for some in our political class, a PhD is merely another accessory, a piece of tribal jewelry to be flashed, utterly disconnected from the intellect and integrity it should embody. The only thing they've learned is how to weaponize credentials while dismantling the very fabric of civilized conduct.
🔥Dr. Berg explains how cancer behaves like a parasite.
The shocking part?
Cheap antiparasitic meds like Fenbendazole and Ivermectin target those exact mechanisms.
Why no big clinical trials from major centers? Expired patents = no pharma profits.
BRIEF ON TODAY’S PROCEEDINGS IN THE ODIOUS DEBT PETITION AT MILIMANI HIGH COURT
This morning, the Milimani High Court did not hear the substantive Odious Debt Petition. Instead, the matter was adjourned to allow the Court to address multiple interlocutory applications seeking either to dismiss the petition unheard or to strike out some parties from the suit.
The key applications before the Court are as follows:
1) The Attorney General argues that, because the Government has directed the Auditor‑General to conduct a special audit of Kenya’s huge odious debt stock, the petition is premature and the Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain it at this stage. The AG therefore contends that the Court should await the outcome of that audit. The National Assembly supports the AG’s position.
2) The @IMFNews seeks to exit the case, invoking immunity under a treaty it signed with Kenya in 1963, which grants it absolute immunity before Kenyan courts.
3) The Former Auditor General Edward Ouk and the former Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo claim personal immunity, asserting that they acted in good faith during their tenure and therefore cannot be held accountable for any shortcomings.
4) The Current Auditor General FCPA Nancy Gathungu, CBS, and the current Controller of Budget Dr. Margaret Nyakang’o maintain that they cannot be sued in their personal capacities; only their respective independent constitutional offices may be parties to the suit.
Although the petitioners had fully responded to all the applications and were ready to proceed, the @IMFAfrica and other parties stated that they were not ready and requested seven days to respond to the petitioners�� rebuttals of their applications.
The Court then directed that all parties wishing to file any responses (replying affidavits and/or submissions) do so within seven days of today. The Court will thereafter peruse the documents and render its ruling on the applications on 25th June 2026.
To fast‑track the matter, the Court will deliver its ruling on the applications without orally hearing the parties. There will be no highlighting of submissions.
If any of the parties are struck out, they will be dropped from the case, and it may become necessary to amend the petition before it is heard on the merits.
Finally, if the AG’s application to strike out the case unheard is dismissed, the petition will proceed to be heard and determined on the merits. If the application succeeds, the matter will end there.
The petitioners are fully prepared and are doing everything possible to succeed in this epic battle against Kenya’s huge odious debt stock. Kenyan taxpayers deserve accountability and fiscal justice. We shall not relent. The petitioners will not be the first to blink. #ReKe #DeniBandia #OdiousDebtKenya
Odious Debt case comes up tomorrow, 28 April 2026 at 11:00 a.m. before a three judge bench at Milimani High Court, Courtroom 31.
This case goes to the core of accountability in public borrowing.
Join virtually: https://t.co/HpbZDPn70G
#DeniBandia#OdiousDebt