President William Ruto’s office, the electoral body, the education and security sectors are among the big beneficiaries in the 2025/26 budget.

Also in the list of the big beneficiaries are the State Department for Housing to enable the building of affordable houses, the State Department for Aviation and Aerospace, Immigration and Citizen Services, roads, energy and devolution.

The increase in the budget has mainly been effected in the development budget save for the National Police Service (NPS), State Department for Correctional Services, Energy and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) whose increase were made in the recurrent budget.

The recurrent budget for the Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has been reduced from Sh3 billion in the 2024/2025 budget to Sh2.8 billion while the development budget has been maintained at Sh100 million. The recurrent budget for Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has been reduced from Sh890.1 million to Sh866.8 million.

Among the big losers mostly on the development budget include the ASALs and Regional Development whose budget has been reduced from Sh4.67 billion in the 2024/25 financial year to Sh2.5 billion in the current financial year, Basic Education from Sh20 billion to Sh17.4 billion, Co-operatives from Sh3 billion to Sh11.5 billion, Social Protection and Senior Citizens Affairs from Sh1.8 billion to a paltry Sh187.1 million, the Judiciary from Sh771.6 million to zero and the Parliamentary Joint Services from Sh1.3 billion to zero.

Costly repairs

The Budget Estimates for 2025/26 show the Executive Office of the President has been allocated Sh1.46 billion for development, up from Sh50 million in the 2024/25 budget, while State House has been allocated Sh894.9 million, up from Sh400 million.

The State House budget will cater for maintenance works at State House Nairobi and State Lodges in Eldoret, Sagana, Mombasa, Nakuru Kisumu, Kakamega and Mtito Andei while the allocation forthe Executive Office of the President will be spent on refurbishment of Harambee House at a cost of Sh30 million as well as other expenses.

The IEBC budget has been increased from Sh3.84 billion in 2024/25 to Sh9.6 billion. The money will be used to carry out the 20 by-elections for vacant seats as well as prepare for 2027 elections. Of the 19 pending by-elections, six are at the constituency level and 14 are at ward level.

The pending by elections at the constituency level include the Kasipul seat that has been left vacant following the killing of MP Ong’ondo Were, the Baringo Senate seat left vacant after the death of Senator William Cheptumo who died on February 16 as well as the Banissa, Magarini, Ugunja, Malava, Mbeere North and the ODM nominated seats that had been occupied by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and Opiyo Wandayi.

The Housing and Urban Development budget has been enhanced from Sh5.7 billion to a whopping Sh116.7 billion to finance the National Slum Upgrading Projects and construction of affordable houses.

The Correctional Services kitty has been increased from Sh35.74 billion to Sh37.79 billion, the National Police Service (NPS) allocation has been enhanced from Sh114.84 billion to Sh123.733 billion while the Ministry of Defence budget has been increased from Sh176.17 billion to Sh195.38lion.

The monies for NPS will be used to among other things pay for presidential escort whose budget is Sh844.4 Million, general administration and planning (Sh10.3 billion) and dog unit section Sh390.6 million.

The Ministry of Defence spending will go to the Headquarters Administrative Services at Sh3.2 billion, support to Kenya Defence Force (KDF) operations (Sh182.79 billion) and Kenya Meat Commission (Sh2.98 Billion).

“I estimate the amount required in the year ending June 30, 2026 for salaries and expenses for the Ministry of Defence, including general administration & planning and Kenya Defence Forces is Sh187,561,647,260,” the report further reads.

The development budget for Immigration and Citizen Services budget has been increased from Sh1.69 billion to Sh8.55 billion. The money will be spent on eCitizen (Sh1.997 billion), Unique Personal Identifier Project (Sh383.8 million) and the improvement of Civil Registration Systems (Sh16.2 million).

The Devolution allocation has been increased from Sh1.56 billion to Sh15.9 billion to finance Maarifa Centre for Knowledge Management Among Counties (Sh30 million) and Kenya Devolution Support Programme II (KDSP II) (Sh15.8 billion).

The Aviation and Aerospace budget was increased from zero allocation in the previous budget to Sh14.15 billion while the budget for the State Department for Energy was increased from Sh9,95 billion to Sh11.98 billion while the budget for the State Department for Water and Sanitation has been enhanced from Sh15.39 billion to Sh36 billion.