Where Is Your Tax Money Going? Kenya's Controller of Budget Exposes Shocking Government Spending.

Dr. Margaret Nyakang'o's latest report lays bare a deeply troubling pattern of unbudgeted spending — from the DP's wife's office to a State House budget that has nearly doubled overnight.

Kenya's Constitution is clear: every shilling of public money must be spent according to a budget approved by Parliament. No allocation, no spending. That is the law. Yet in a bombshell report covering the first half of the 2025/2026 financial year, Controller of Budget Dr. Margaret Nyakang'o has revealed that this fundamental rule is being broken — with millions flowing out of government accounts from offices that were never given a single cent in the approved budget.

KSh 44.5M - Spent by DP Spouse's office with zero budget allocation

KSh 17B - State House budget after nearly doubling mid-year

44% Of all revenue consumed by domestic debt alone

KSh 2.8B - Borrowed every single day from the local market

The Office That Had No Budget — But Spent KSh 44.5 Million Anyway

At the centre of the Controller of Budget's latest findings is a startling revelation about the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President — the office of Joyce Njagi, wife of DP Kithure Kindiki.

According to the CoB's National Government Budget Implementation Report for the first half of FY 2025/2026, this office had no budget allocation whatsoever during the review period. Not a single shilling was set aside for it in Parliament's approved budget. Yet the office went ahead and spent KSh 44.52 million — primarily on salaries and domestic and international engagements.

The Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President had no budget allocation in the period under review, but incurred expenditure of KSh 44.52 million.

To be clear about what this means: this is not a case of overspending against an approved budget. This is spending from an account that was never budgeted for at all. That money had to come from somewhere — and it raises serious questions about which approved programmes were quietly defunded to cover it.

What the Law Says

Article 206 of Kenya's Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act require that all government expenditure must be authorised by Parliament through an approved budget. Spending without this authorisation is not just improper — it is unconstitutional.

The implications of this go beyond one office. If spending can happen without a budget allocation, it means the entire budget process — public participation, Parliamentary debate, and approval — can be bypassed at will. That is a direct threat to fiscal accountability in Kenya.

State House Budget Doubles to KSh 17 Billion — Surpassing South Africa, Nigeria, and Germany

The unbudgeted spending at the DP Spouse's office is alarming on its own. But it does not stand alone. The CoB report also reveals that Kenya's State House budget has nearly doubled — from KSh 8.58 billion to approximately KSh 17 billion — after an emergency clause was invoked to allow additional spending without prior National Assembly approval.

The National Assembly later received supplementary budget estimates showing a staggering KSh 8.42 billion increase in the State House allocation. This is reportedly the highest State House budget Kenya has recorded since 2013.

How does this compare regionally and globally?

Country Presidential Office Budget (Approx.) vs Kenya

🇰🇪 Kenya KSh 17 Billion —

🇿🇦 South Africa KSh 7.8 Billion 54% less than Kenya

🇩🇪 Germany KSh ~6.5 Billion 62% less than Kenya

🇳🇬 Nigeria KSh 3.1 Billion 82% less than Kenya

🇹🇿 Tanzania KSh 1.7 Billion 90% less than Kenya

This is not a comparison to be proud of. Kenya — a country that has repeatedly asked its citizens to bear higher taxes, accept fuel levy increases, and endure the removal of subsidies — is spending more on its presidency than South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, and even Germany combined in some cases.

Worth Noting

The Linda Mama free maternity program — which helped thousands of Kenyan mothers deliver safely in hospitals — was not allocated a single shilling in the 2025/26 budget. Meanwhile, the State House budget doubled. These are the choices being made with public money.

Kenya Is Borrowing KSh 2.8 Billion Every Single Day

Behind the unbudgeted spending and inflated allocations lies a debt crisis that is quietly worsening. The CoB report reveals that between July and December 2025, the Kenyan government borrowed approximately KSh 2.8 billion every single day from the local market — primarily through Treasury bills and bonds.

Debt Alert

Kenya's total public debt has risen to KSh 7.052 trillion as of February 2026. Domestic debt alone reached KSh 6.83 trillion — accounting for 56% of the total debt stock. In the first half of FY 2025/26, the government spent KSh 923.14 billion servicing public debt — nearly half of its approved debt-servicing budget consumed in just six months.

Most critically, 44 percent of all revenue collected in the first half of the year went toward domestic debt repayment alone. The IMF considers 30 percent to be a warning threshold. Kenya is well past that.

In practical terms, for every KSh 100 the government collects from taxpayers through PAYE, VAT, and other levies, over KSh 44 never reaches a hospital, a school, or a road. It goes straight to paying off loans — many of which were themselves taken to cover previous overspending.

Revenue Is Falling Short — While Spending Continues to Rise

Making matters worse, the government is collecting significantly less revenue than projected. By December 2025, ordinary revenue collected stood at KSh 1,236.5 billion — KSh 115.3 billion below target. Almost every revenue category underperformed, with import duty being the only exception.

This creates a dangerous fiscal cycle:

• Revenue falls short of targets, leaving a funding gap.

• The government borrows more aggressively to cover the gap.

• Higher borrowing pushes up domestic interest rates, making credit more expensive for businesses and individuals.

• More revenue is then consumed by debt servicing, leaving even less for public services.

• Unbudgeted and inflated expenditures continue to add pressure on an already strained fiscal system.

What This Means for Ordinary Kenyans

It is easy for these figures to feel distant. But the consequences are very concrete and felt in everyday life across Kenya:

- Public hospitals run out of medicines and equipment — not because Kenya lacks money, but because so much of it goes to debt and unaccountable offices.

- Schools lack adequate teachers and books, with the free primary education budget facing cuts even as administrative spending rises.

- The cost of living keeps climbing as the government borrows aggressively and pushes up interest rates, which feed into the prices of food, rent, and transport.

- Youth unemployment remains high while the State House budget doubles and offices without allocations spend freely.

- The burden does not fall equally. Those who benefit from inflated State House budgets and unbudgeted office spending are not the same Kenyans who cannot afford NHIF contributions, school fees, or basic medicines. The weight falls squarely on ordinary citizens.

What Should Happen Next?

The Controller of Budget has done what she is constitutionally mandated to do — she has documented the violations, crunched the numbers, and published her findings. The report is public. The evidence is clear.

What Kenya needs now is accountability that goes beyond a report:

Parliament must demand explanations for the KSh 44.52 million in unbudgeted spending and take concrete steps to prevent recurrence.

The National Assembly must scrutinise the doubling of the State House budget and question the use of emergency clauses to bypass legislative approval.

Citizens must engage — attend public participation forums, contact their representatives, and demand that budget reports be acted upon, not shelved.

Anti-corruption bodies should investigate whether spending without allocation constitutes a violation of the PFM Act and take appropriate action.

Bottom Line: The Budget Is Not Just a Document — It Is a Contract

Kenya's national budget is not a bureaucratic formality. It is a legal and moral contract between the government and the people — a public commitment about how taxpayers' money will be used. When offices spend millions without allocation, when budgets double overnight without oversight, and when nearly half of all revenue disappears into debt servicing, that contract is being broken.

The Controller of Budget has given Kenyans the facts. Now it is up to every citizen, every MP, and every institution to decide whether those facts will lead to real accountability — or simply gather dust in another unread report.