As Treasury CS John Mbadi on Thursday read Kenya’s KES 4.29 Trillion Budget, the heftiest in the East African region but attention was diverted elsewhere to demonstrations in downtown Nairobi demanding for the Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat to step down.
Parliament barely met the quorum to transact business as, for security reasons, most MPs chose not to show up within the Nairobi CBD. Mbadi’s defining moment was certainly bereft of the traditional budget veritas.
Anyway the CS went on and pronounced the Education sector as the largest beneficiary of the 2025/26 budget with an allocation of KES 702.7 billion.
The KES 4.29 trillion budget was also the country’s biggest at a time when debt threatens to choke the economy.
Significant highlights were Education – KES 702.7 broken down into KES 387.2 billion for the Teachers Service Commission, KES 51.9 billion for Free Day Secondary Education, KES 28.9 billion for Junior Secondary Capitation, KES 7 billion for Free Primary Education, and KES 41.5 billion for the Higher Education Loans Board.
In addition an allocation of KES 16.9 billion went to university scholarships, KES 7.7 billion went to TVET scholarships and capitation, KES 5.9 billion to administration of national examinations, KES 4.0 billion to technical and vocational education, KES 13.3 billion to equity in primary education, and KES 2.3 billion to improve quality in secondary education.
Another significant highlight was an allocation of KES 464.8 billion to national security.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) received the largest share of KES 202.3 billion, while the National Police Service (NPS) received KES 125.7 billion and KES 10 billion was set aside for of police motor vehicles.
The Police Modernization Programme received a kitty of KES 3.6 billion, and KES 1.2 billion went to construction and upgrade of national forensic facilities.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) was allocated KES 51.4 billion, the Prisons Services KES 38.1 billion and the Internal Security and National Administration was received KES 32.5 billion.
County governments will receive KES 405.1 billion as equitable share of revenue raised nationally, which marks an increase of KES 17.6 billion from the previous financial year’s KES 387.4 billion.
The roads and transport sector received an allocation of KES 217.3 billion.
Of this, KES 30.9 billion will go to road construction, KES 70.8 billion to rehabilitation, and KES 115.6 billion to maintenance.
The development of rail infrastructure received KES 38 billion, while KES 331.2 million went to the Nairobi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project and another KES 298.7 million to the E-Mobility Project.
Health received KES 138.1 billion. This includes KES 6.2 billion for coordination of Universal Health Coverage, KES 13.1 billion for the Primary Healthcare Fund, and KES 42.4 billion for referral hospitals.
The budget further allocated KES 17.3 billion for HIV, TB, and malaria interventions, KES 4.6 billion for vaccines and immunization, KES 8 billion for the Emergencies, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, KES 1 billion for a cancer center in Kisii, KES 100 million each for cancer support at Kenyatta National Hospital and Kenyatta University Hospital, and KES 4.3 billion for medical interns.
KES 3.2 billion was set aside for community health promoters, KES 303 million for health personnel training, and KES 8.9 billion for Kenya Medical Training Colleges.
Housing and urban development received KES 128.3 billion, including KES 64.5 billion for affordable housing units, KES 10.5 billion for social housing, KES 16.5 billion for related infrastructure, and KES 13.4 billion for the Kenya Urban Programme.
Informal settlement improvement was allocated KES 7.2 billion, police and prison housing received KES 3.5 billion, and KES 500 million was set aside for building climate resilience for the urban poor.
KES 454 million will go to the construction of footbridges and KES 2.6 billion to support the regulation and development of the construction industry.
The energy sector received KES 62.8 billion, including KES 31.6 billion for the national electricity grid, KES 16.3 billion for rural electrification, KES 11.5 billion for geothermal energy, KES 2.1 billion for alternative energy technologies, and KES 743.8 million for nuclear energy development.
Agriculture was allocated KES 47.6 billion, comprising KES 8 billion for the Fertilizer Subsidy Programme, KES 10.2 billion for the Agricultural Value Chain Development Project, KES 800 million for small-scale irrigation and value addition, KES 1.2 billion for food security and crop diversification, and KES 5.8 billion for the Food Systems Resilience Project.
The livestock subsector received KES 2.3 billion for pastoral economy development, KES 1.6 billion for the Livestock Commercialization Programme, and KES 280 million for livestock value chain support.
An additional KES 340 million will go to the Leather Industrial Park in Kenanie.
Social protection received KES 41.4 billion to cater for cash transfers under the Inua Jamii programme and other welfare initiatives targeting orphans, vulnerable children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.
Manufacturing and MSME support was allocated KES 18 billion, including KES 4.5 billion for county agro-industrial parks, KES 2.8 billion for local industry support, KES 300 million for the Hustler Fund, KES 308 million for the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, KES 550 million for the Centre for Entrepreneurship, and KES 1.3 billion for the Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility.
ICT and digital infrastructure received KES 12.7 billion, comprising of KES 2.3 billion for the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology at Konza, KES 3.7 billion for the Digital Economy Acceleration Project, KES 3.1 billion for the Konza Data Centre and smart city facilities, KES 750 million for the national optic fiber backbone, KES 689 million for digital hubs, KES 333.2 million for government shared services, KES 382 million for the digital superhighway, and KES 700 million for the rollout of the e-government procurement system.
Meanwhile, the blue economy and fisheries were allocated KES 8.2 billion, while land and settlement were allocated KES 3.8 billion, ostensibly, for resettling the landless.
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