The National Treasury has increased ministerial allocations for the current fiscal year (2025-26) by more than the regulatory threshold of 10 percent, with top beneficiaries, including the State House, holders of pending bills and Registrar of Persons.
In a supplementary budget tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the Exchequer disclosed a plan to increase ministerial spending by Sh287.4 billion, which is an 11.3 percent rise, which breaches the set limit of 10 percent.
So, what is the primary driver of this spike? The high cost of running the Presidency. State House is set to receive an additional 8.4 billion shillings, effectively doubling its initial annual allocation. This comes after the Presidency overshot its recurrent budget by just the seventh month of the financial year.
Beyond the high-level offices, the Treasury is moving to settle the “ghosts” of past administrations. 1.3 billion shillings is earmarked in the Office of the President, to pay pending bills, offering a glimmer of hope to contractors, including those from the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
With the 2027 General Election appearing on the horizon, the government is also opening its wallet for the Department for Immigration. An extra 4.39 billion shillings has been allocated for mobile ID issuance programmes, ensuring the Registrar of Persons can handle the surge of new voters.
However, the “spend now, explain later” approach is already in motion. Over 185 billion shillings of the requested funds have already been spent, including 3.88 billion shillings used to settle long-standing university lecturers’ arrears from their collective bargaining agreement of 2017.
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