Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has defended the National Infrastructure Fund (NIF) before the National Assembly, assuring the parliament that the fund is a paramount tool to fund long-term infrastructure projects in Kenya and, at the same time, exercise fiscal discipline.

Appearing before the parliamentary committee to discuss the budget policy statement on Monday, March 2, 2026, Mbadi has highlighted that the fund will not increase the debt of people or tax them higher but mobilise funds to fund important projects in the areas of energy, transport, water, and digital connectivity.

“Some people think the National Infrastructure Fund will be used to finance projects in the usual way. That is not how it works. The role of this fund is to attract private sector financing by de-risking commercially viable public infrastructure projects that have been approved,” Mbadi noted.

Mbadi also emphasized the governance and accountability models that form the basis of the fund, such as the presence of an independent board and professional management to be able to maintain transparency and safeguard the interests of taxpayers.

He emphasized that the NIF will be a revolving financing scheme whereby the returns of commercially viable projects are invested back in order to fuel further development projects. The fund has attracted both legislatures and civil societies, where concerns have been raised on the legal nature and the financing mechanism.

Mbadi assured the members of the assembly that the fund is within stipulated laws and it is meant to speed up the development of the country efficiently, using the example of successful financing through partial divestment of state-owned enterprises, such as the sale of 15 per cent of the shares in Safaricom Plc. History of the National Infrastructure Fund.

The National Infrastructure Fund was also initiated as a strategy of the government to fill the long-standing gaps in infrastructure in Kenya. The fund is supposed to gather resources from different sources, approved by the Cabinet, such as those of the government, the sale of strategic assets, the partnership between the government and corporations, and the income from natural resources.

Its development is meant to expedite the development of key infrastructure ventures and also to make sure that the funding is sustainable, responsible, and not liable to the short-term political demands.