Defence, Agriculture, Higher Education biggest winners in Sh246 billion supplementary budget

The Ministry of Defence and State Departments for Agriculture, Higher Education and Medical Services are among the biggest winners in the Sh245.9 billion additional allocation.

The  supplementary budget estimates for the financial year 2025/26 have shown

The supplementary estimates have been presented to the National Assembly for approval, with the Sh245.9 billion mini-budget being a top-up to the Sh4.2 trillion budget approved in June last year.

National Treasury, Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, presented the estimates, which have exceeded the threshold of 10 per cent by 1.1 per cent as provided for in the constitution.

“Since the approval of the 2025/26 budget estimates, the National Treasury has received additional expenditure requests to cater for emerging priorities and shortfalls under critical expenditures,” Mbadi said in the March 3 document to the National Assembly.

Article 223(5) of the constitution provides that in any particular financial year, the national government may not spend under “this Article” more than 10 per cent of the sum appropriated by parliament for the financial year unless, in special circumstances, parliament has approved a higher percentage.

Mbadi said in the document that the budget execution progressed well during the first half of the current financial year, though it has been constrained by a combination of factors, which included slower-than-anticipated adoption of the e-procurement system, revenue underperformance, and emerging expenditure pressures.

By the end of December last year,  Mbadi stated that the total revenue collection, including Appropriations-in-Aid (A-I-A), amounted to Sh1.53 trillion against a target of Sh1.64 trillion, representing a shortfall of Sh111.6 billion.

“The revenue shortfall recorded is due to under-performance in ordinary revenue by Sh110.6 billion and Sh1 billion from ministerial A.I.A,” Mbadi stated.

Of the approved additional expenditure, Sh185.8 billion has already been disbursed and is now awaiting approval by the National Assembly.

The estimates have also incorporated additional expenditure to cater for salary shortfalls for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) staff, support for education through the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb), and scholarships and security operations.

Other issues covered are in line with disaster response as part of addressing droughts, floods and mudslides, capital projects and development partners-funded projects in roads, water, transport corridors, energy sectors, among others.

Other additional expenditure is Sh101.6 billion under ministerial gross expenditure, of which Sh44.8 billion is for recurrent budget and Sh56.7 billion under development budget, with Sh144.4 billion under the Consolidated Fund Services (CFS) to cater for the buyback and interest accrued at the Citibank.

According to the estimates, the Defence Ministry is expected to receive Sh24.4 billion in addition to the Sh202.3 billion, though the purpose of this budget was not explained.

For the State Department for Agriculture, it is to get an additional Sh19 billion for fertiliser subsidy and sugar reforms, while another Sh2.92 billion will go towards seeds subsidy and crop diversification programmes.

Similarly, the State Department for Higher Education is expected to receive an additional Sh16.69 billion to go towards arrears for universities' Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and enhancement of provision for Higher Education Loan Board (Helb) for university scholarship.

On the other hand, Special programmes are to receive an additional allocation of Sh12.6 billion to cater for drought and floods mitigation efforts, and Sh270.5 million for personnel emolument shortfall and operations and maintenance.

Basic Education will receive Sh3.1 billion more to cover national examinations shortfall, while the State Department for Medical Services has received a Sh8.31 billion allocation for the provision of the Covid-19 health emergency response project and another Sh5.62 billion to cater for the primary health care fund.

The State Department for Health will receive Sh5.5 billion for the personnel emolument shortfall for health interns, while the National Police Service (NPS) has an additional allocation of Sh7.5 billion to go towards enhancing security operations.

Others include the State Department for Cooperatives, which has an allocation of Sh2 billion to cater for adequate preparation of milk glut and ensure timely mop up of excess milk, stabilisation of raw milk price and timely payment of arrears to farmers.

For the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development, it is to get Sh2.97 billion for the NYOTA project, while the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services will get an additional Sh4.4 billion for the provision of a joint mobile registration outreach programme for the national identity cards and birth certificates.

State Department for the ASALs and Regional Development will get Sh3.92 billion, which includes Sh1.65 billion for the shortfall on the hunger safety net programme and personnel emolument shortfall and Sh2.3 billion in additional expenditure for the shortfall in personnel emolument and provision for ongoing projects.

On the other hand, the State Department for Economic Planning will receive an additional Sh566.1 million to support and capacity building of grassroots champions, data collection and management and for general administration planning and support services, Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) indicator.

Mbadi has also said that the ordinary revenue collection stood at Sh1.24 trillion against a target of Sh1.4 trillion, while collections from ministerial A-I-A stood at Sh283.8 billion against a target of Sh284.8 billion.

Despite the shortfalls, the CS stated that the total revenue grew by 11.4 per cent compared to a 4.2 per cent growth recorded in December 2024, indicating a positive trend in revenue mobilisation.