On Tuesday, the Cabinet of Kenya issued an explosive dispatch on the 2024/2025 Supplementary Estimates No.—II, announcing that it was authorizing 344.8 billion shillings in extra spending for this Financial Year. The amount was way beyond what many Kenyans expected.
A few hours later, the same Cabinet came out and said, in a different statement, “Kindly note that the Cabinet has approved the proposed 2024/2025 Supplementary Estimates No.-II, authorizing an additional 199.9 billion shillings and not 344.8 billion shillings.
This means that there was a “typing error” of a whole 145 billion shillings. There are ‘typing errors’ that can go unnoticed but not an error that screams as loud as 145 billion shillings. There is no way one can, instead of typing 199 billion, type 544 billion shillings.
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During the same dispatch, the Cabinet has approved a 4.26 trillion shilling budget for the 2025/26 financial year. The budget, which is set to be presented to Parliament for further deliberation, allocates 3.09 trillion shillings for recurrent spending and 725.1 billion shillings for development initiatives.
Of the development allocation, Sh436.7 billion is earmarked for county government transfers, while an additional Sh5 billion is reserved for the contingency fund.
Overall, the expenditure represents 22.1% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and emphasizes funding for personnel emoluments and ongoing government projects. The proposed budget comes amid an economic landscape still reeling from the fallout of the contentious 2024 Finance Bill.
That bill was largely rejected after widespread public opposition and deadly demonstrations resulted in the loss of hundreds of youths, prompting the government to re-evaluate its fiscal priorities.
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