*Wanjiku’s 10 Shillings and the 7 That Disappear* Wanjiku sells boiled eggs outside a busy matatu stage. Every day, she puts aside KSh 10 from her sales, a small tax she imagines helps pay for schools, hospitals, roads, and clean water. But what if she knew that 7 of those 10 shillings don’t go to any of that? They vanish into debt repayment. Loans taken years ago are now eating up most of what the government collects. In April 2025, debt service took 70% of all the tax revenue. That’s a small improvement from 75% in April 2024, but still, only 3 shillings out of every 10 are left to fund everything else the government is supposed to do. So next time Wanjiku’s daughter can’t find a desk in school, or the health center has no medicine, or streetlights go off for days , it’s not because people aren’t paying taxes. It’s because we’re paying for yesterday with today’s taxes. Source: https://ipfglobal.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GoK-Exchequer-releases-April-2025-infographic-by-IPF.pdf