Kenya is once again staring at a national embarrassment: billions of public money poured into half-built projects that never see the light of day.
The Controller of Budget’s latest National Government Budget Implementation Review Report for the first six months of FY 2025/26 (July–December 2025) has ripped the lid off chronic waste, inefficiency and poor project execution at the heart of government.
According to the explosive findings – first reported by The Star – massive sums allocated to flagship sectors have simply vanished into incomplete works. Diplomatic missions abroad sit unfinished. Trade infrastructure lies abandoned. Agriculture projects meant to boost food security are gathering dust. Maritime systems and aviation facilities, critical for Kenya’s economic gateway status, remain stalled mid-construction.
This is not a one-off blunder. It is a systemic failure that has haunted successive administrations, with the Office of the Controller of Budget repeatedly sounding the alarm in prior reviews. Yet the bleeding continues.
While exact figures in the report remain under scrutiny, the headline message is crystal clear: billions wasted. Funds released from the Consolidated Fund for development priorities were either poorly absorbed, diverted, or left idle as contractors abandoned sites, procurement delays mounted, and oversight collapsed.
Key sectors hit hardest include:
– Diplomatic missions – Kenya’s international image is taking a hit from delayed or poorly maintained embassies and chanceries.
– Trade infrastructure – Roads, markets and border facilities critical for regional commerce left incomplete.
– Agriculture – Irrigation schemes, storage facilities and value-addition plants meant to transform farming now stand as skeletons.
– Maritime systems – Port upgrades and inland water transport projects grinding to a halt.
– Aviation facilities – Airport expansions and upgrades stalled despite billions already sunk in.
The report covers the period when the government was pushing hard under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) to deliver quick wins. Instead, it has delivered ghost projects that mock every taxpayer.
CoB Dr Margaret Nyakang’o has made stalled and incomplete projects a recurring red flag in her quarterly and annual reviews. Previous reports flagged dozens of county roads, water schemes and national infrastructure locked in limbo, with funds sometimes quietly shifted to recurrent spending like allowances and travel.
This half-year review follows the same troubling pattern: low development absorption rates, procurement bottlenecks, contractor defaults, and weak monitoring. Billions remain unutilized or tied up in projects that have dragged on for years – costing the economy lost growth, jobs and services.
Economists and governance watchdogs have long warned that Kenya loses hundreds of billions annually to stalled projects, turning what should be productive investments into fiscal black holes.
The CoB report is not just numbers on a page. It is a direct indictment of project management across key ministries and state departments. With debt servicing already consuming nearly half of government revenue, the country cannot afford to keep flushing good money after bad.
Kenyans deserve answers:
– Which specific projects swallowed the billions?
– Who approved payments without milestones being met?
– Why were funds released when absorption was visibly failing?
The National Treasury, line ministries and the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee must now act – fast. Prioritize completion of viable stalled projects, blacklist rogue contractors, digitize procurement end-to-end, and enforce strict accountability.
Until then, every incomplete embassy, idle farm project, unfinished port berth and half-built runway stands as a monument to waste – and a painful reminder that in Kenya, public funds too often mean public pain.
The CoB has done her job. Now it’s time for those in charge of the purse strings to do theirs – before another billion joins the graveyard of broken promises.
Kenya cannot build a prosperous future on foundations of unfinished concrete. The waste must stop. Today.
