Ruto's pet projects to gobble up lion's share of Sh4.8 trillion budget

President William Ruto’s pet projects will gobble up the lion's share of the Sh4.8 trillion budget for the 2026/27 financial year, with a sizable chunk of the billions going towards affordable housing and urban development projects.

In what is Kenya Kwanza’s last fully implementable budget ahead of the 2027 general elections, the national government was allocated Sh2.89 trillion, comprising Sh2.81 trillion to the Executive, Sh50.8 billion to Parliament, while the Judiciary was allocated Sh30.4 billion.

According to the Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) report on the 2026/27 budget estimates, which was tabled by chairperson Sam Atandi, the affordable housing pillar under the Bottom-Up Transformation Agenda (BETA) has been allocated Sh135.8 billion to go towards the housing and urban development sector.

 This includes Sh50 billion for the construction of affordable housing units, Sh20.9 billion for the construction of social housing units, Sh20.2 billion for institutional housing, and Sh 18.3 billion for the development of related social and physical infrastructure.

“These allocations aim to increase access to decent, affordable housing, stimulate job creation in the construction sector, and support the growth of urban centers through improved infrastructure, “reads the report.

In addition, the urban development subsector has been allocated Sh18.6 billion for the Kenya Urban Programme and Sh2.7 billion for the Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project (KISIP).

These allocations are intended to help the President Ruto administration enhance urban planning, improve infrastructure and service delivery in municipalities, and upgrade informal settlements to promote decent, inclusive, and sustainable urban living conditions.

To enhance access to affordable and reliable energy, the budget has further allocated Sh16.3 billion to the rural electricity connectivity, Sh7.5 billion for the national grid system, and Sh3.2 billion for the promotion and adoption of alternative energy technologies.

These allocations, the report notes, are intended to expand electricity access, particularly in underserved and rural areas, while also supporting the transition to sustainable, clean energy solutions that can drive growth, improve livelihoods, and promote environmental sustainability.

To woo the youth, who are considered a key voting bloc in the forthcoming general elections, the Kenya Kwanza administration’s budget has included them in various empowerment and employment creation programmes.

Key allocations include Sh4.7 billion for the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme, Sh2.5 billion for the Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) programme, and Sh2 billion for the Youth Employment Support Programme.

 The National Youth Service (NYS) has been allocated 12.5 billion to support youth training and national service initiatives.

And to ensure the smooth but efficient conduction of the elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has benefited from an enhanced continuous allocation of Sh24.96 billion.

Then there is the critical education sector, which received the largest share of the national cake with an allocation of 781.4 billion.

This Sh421.9 billion is allocated to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for teacher resource management, Sh54.6 billion for Free Day Secondary Education, Sh30 billion for Junior Secondary School capitation(JSS), and Sh7 billion for Free Primary Education.

 Another Sh56.7 billion has been allocated to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to support student financing in institutions of higher learning.

Further allocations include Sh4.9 billion for the conversion of 20,000 intern teachers into permanent and pensionable terms, aimed at addressing staffing gaps in schools and improving employment stability in the teaching profession.

The sector has also been allocated Sh9.9 billion for the administration of national examinations and invigilation fees under the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).  

“The substantial allocation underscores the Government's continued prioritization of access to education, teacher recruitment, and support for the transition and implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum,” the report highlights.

Additionally, the Health Docket has been allocated Sh175.5 billion to support the implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Key allocations include Sh19.1 billion for the Primary Healthcare Fund and Sh 4 billion for the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, aimed at improving access to essential healthcare services and reducing the financial burden on households seeking specialised treatment.

To support interventions on HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis, Sh18.5 billion has been allocated under the Global Fund programme. Other allocations within the health sector include funding for national referral hospitals, support to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) for medical commodities and supply chain management, and facilitation of community health promoters to strengthen primary healthcare delivery at the grassroots level.

Under the Agriculture and Rural Development sector, Sh106 billion has been allocated to support food security and agricultural transformation.  

The allocation includes Sh18 billion for the fertilizer subsidy programme aimed at lowering input costs and enhancing agricultural productivity, Sh2.4 billion to support ongoing sugar sector reforms, and Sh2 billion for the provision of seed subsidies to farmers.

The Roads sector has been allocated Sh230 billion to enhance road connectivity and support economic integration. This comprises Sh48.1 billion for road and bridge construction, Sh64 billion for rehabilitation of the existing road network, and Sh118 billion for the maintenance of road infrastructure.

The budget also highlighted key significant increases in funding for critical sectors such as Security, under which the Ministry of Defence allocation has been increased by Sh10.6billion from Sh 241.5 billion to Sh252.1 billion, while the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was allocated Sh64 billion from a prior KSh58.6 billion.

The State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services allocation has also been enhanced by Sh12.5 billion from Sh13.4 billion to Sh25.9 billion.

 The National Police Service (NPS) budget has also been increased from Sh144.4 billion to Sh147.4 billion – an increment of Sh3 billion.

“The increase in the national security sector is attributed to enhanced allocations to the National Intelligence Service to support strengthened intelligence gathering, analysis, and operational capabilities, and to the Department of Defence to facilitate ongoing modernisation programmes aimed at improving and overall Defence capabilities in response to evolving security threats and emerging geopolitical dynamics,” the report further reads.

The Executive Office of the President’s budget also got a Sh1.3 billion increment from Sh6.2 billion to Sh7,5 billion, while the State Department for Devolution got an increment of Sh10.75 billion from Sh1.46 billion to Sh12.2 billion.

Others include the National Treasury’s budget that was increased from Sh77.6 billion to Sh122.87 billion.

And while tabling the report before the House yesterday, MP Sam Atandi told MPs that this year’s budget is being processed at a time when there are heightened domestic and global uncertainties characterised by geopolitical tension.

“We have revised our own growth projections from 5.3 per cent to 5 per cent. We are having a global oil crisis, which has affected us in some ways. We have seen inflation going up in the last month… this budget endeavors to sustain the economic growth to support productive sectors, protect vulnerable households and accelerate the implementation of Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA),” Atandi explained.

Kitui Central MP, Makali Mulu, said public debt is a major cause for concern, saying that this year is projected to reach Sh1.1 trillion.

“This is a matter that we need a lot of attention on, in terms of how to manage the public debt. You will realise that this is the first year in the history of Kenya that public debt has crossed the Sh1 trillion mark.

"Looking at the figures of Sh1.1 trillion in terms of borrowing, you realise in terms of Consolidated Fund Services expenditure, it has moved to Sh1.15 trillion and out of that figure, interest alone is Sh1.1 trillion; we are paying a lot of money in terms of interest,” he said.

According to Mulu, this has made the fiscal space very limited to the extent that the country does not have a lot of resources to spend to take care of the country’s needs.

Similarly, he said that pending bills are a concern, noting that the main cause has been Exchequer releases, where budgetary allocations are made but releasing money to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to do the work is a challenge, which has made the bills to rise significantly.