Taxpayers to fund peace missions in policy shift
By John Otini, June 25, 2025Taxpayers will start paying for peacekeeping missions such as the one in Haiti after the government, for the first time, made provisions in the 2025 Budget.
This follows the gazettment of The Public Finance Management (National Police Service Peace Support Fund) Regulations, 2025 under Legal Notice No. 69 on June 20, 2025.
“The object and purpose of the fund shall be to provide a framework for mobilisation, management and accountability of resources intended to support peace operations involving the National Police Service,” the notice states.
The new regulations establish a formal fund that will be used to “receive and apply money for financing peace support operations involving members of the National Police Service.”
With this legal structure now in place, Kenya is poised to directly finance police deployments in foreign missions using taxpayer money.
According to the notice, the Peace Support Fund will cover a wide range of operational costs, including “training, equipment, insurance, and allowances” for police officers deployed outside Kenya.
This marks a significant shift in how Kenya manages the financial burden of international peacekeeping—transferring the cost from donor-funded support or ad hoc arrangements to direct allocation from the Exchequer.
This legal framework directly embeds peacekeeping operations in Kenya’s formal budgeting and expenditure cycle, making police-led missions a recurring item on the national budget.
It carries serious implications for debt-saddled taxpayers already financing a high wage bill, debt repayments and defence spending.
While the move signals Kenya’s ambition to play a more assertive role in regional and international security, it comes at a time when the country is grappling with a mounting debt crisis and one of the highest taxation regimes in recent years.
Kenya’s 2025/2026 budget projects a total expenditure of Ksh4.2919 trillion, with revenues projected at Ksh3.3218 trillion, leading to a fiscal deficit of Ksh923.2 billion
Kenya sent 1,000 police officers to Haiti under a United Nations-supported mission, adding urgency and cost implications to the new Peace Support Fund.
While initial logistics and equipment for the Haiti deployment were expected to be supported by external partners such as the United States and Canada, Kenya has been grappling with funding shortfalls.
At a time when schools and health services are struggling with budget cuts, asking taxpayers to underwrite foreign deployments will likely stir debate.
Management structure
The regulations establish a multi-agency management structure for the Fund, with oversight from the Inspector General of Police, the National Treasury, and the Office of the Auditor General.
Funds will be subject to audit under the Public Audit Act, and disbursements must be approved by the accounting officer for the police. However, critics argue that Kenya’s public finance institutions are already under strain from debt repayments and shrinking development budgets.
The latest report from the Controller of Budget shows that more than 60 per cent of Kenya’s ordinary revenue is currently going to debt servicing.
Questions are also being raised about whether the Peace Support Fund might divert resources away from critical domestic policing needs, such as modernising rural police posts, hiring new recruits, and investing in cybercrime units.
The regulations do allow for the Peace Support Fund to receive external contributions from donors and international partners. But unless clearly ring-fenced, there is concern that domestic taxpayers will bear the brunt of funding Kenya’s international police commitments.
The establishment of the Fund sets the stage for sustained involvement in overseas missions, raising the question of whether Kenyans are ready and willing to pay for peace efforts beyond their borders, at a time when the cost of living and tax obligations continue to rise at home.