President William Ruto with ODM leader Raila Odinga and National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi (centre).
The Ministry of Defence is among the biggest winners in the Sh4.2 trillion budget for the 2025/26 financial year that was approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday, as it adopted the report of the Budget and Appropriations Committee on the budget estimates.
MPs adopted the budget, with capitation allocations to primary, junior, and secondary schools suffering a Sh5.9 billion hit.
The school feeding programme in public schools also suffered a Sh600 million reduction from the Sh3.6 billion that had been allocated for the financial year starting on July 1, 2025.
The reduction of the capitation funds is meant to finance the administration of national examinations and invigilation, which had not been allocated any funds in the printed estimates as presented to the National Assembly by the National Treasury.
The estimates show that, on top of the Sh201 billion allocated to the Ministry of Defence, there is Sh2 billion for the recruitment of military officers, and an increase of Sh5 billion for operations in Somalia.
The Defence Ministry also received a budget hike of Sh6 billion for security operations, as proposed by the National Treasury in an amendment to the committee report, chaired by Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi.
As the Ministry of Defence gained significantly, public school capitation suffered, with a Sh5.9 billion reduction to finance examination administration and invigilation in schools. An additional Sh250 million was cut from the ICT Integration in Secondary Schools.
Of the capitation budget reduction, Sh3 billion came from senior secondary school capitation, Sh2 billion from junior school capitation, and Sh900 million from primary school capitation.
The government’s Sh700 billion development budget was reduced by Sh3.5 billion, including a Sh100 million cut from the Health Insurance Subsidy Programme for Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) also suffered, with Sh2.5 billion cut from the Strategic Response to Public Initiatives, Sh2 billion from the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, Sh100 million from Primary Health Care, and Sh20 million from the Disease Surveillance and Response Unit - Emergency Relief and Refugee Assistance Fund.
Other affected sectors include a Sh620 million cut from teacher capacity building, Sh520 million from rural electrification schemes, and Sh500 million from subsidies to private financial enterprises.
There is also a Sh650 million reduction from the tree-growing campaign and rangeland restoration project, Sh400 million from the budget reserves, Sh300 million from the e-procurement system, and Sh400 million from the contingency fund.
The Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) also suffered a reduction of Sh330 million from the budget meant for the renewal of Oracle licences.
Further, Sh1 billion was slashed from the Equalisation Fund, Sh1.3 billion from government-sponsored students in private universities, Sh250 million from the University of Eldoret’s engineering complex construction, and Sh250 million from the Open University.
The reductions came as rural electrification received a boost, with Sh950 million added for electrification in constituencies, including the installation of transformers, and Sh180 million allocated for street lighting.
The DCI also received an increase of Sh400 million, while Sh800 million was allocated to police operations under the Office of the Inspector General, including Sh150 million for VHF radio communication equipment.
The operationalisation of new administrative units - locations and sub-locations - had its budget enhanced by Sh100 million, while the Livestock Production Support Services received an additional Sh100 million.
The State Department for Crops received a further Sh430 million for the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) to facilitate the provision of seeds and seedlings for priority value chains, and Sh350 million for food security and crop diversification.
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) received an additional Sh100 million to strengthen awareness campaigns and build the capacity of data controllers and processors.
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) was allocated Sh100 million to support the sustenance of media monitoring, content regulatory services, and operational costs of the existing ICT media centres.
