State House spent Ksh.6.73B on ‘secret’ expenditure - Controller of Budget

State House spending hit a record Ksh.18.5 billion in the financial year 2025/2026, with Ksh.6.7 billion classified as confidential expenditure despite President William Ruto abolishing the confidential vote two years ago.

A report by the Controller of Budget on budget implementation for the year ended June 2026 shows that State House more than doubled its original allocation of Ksh.8.5 billion, ending the financial year with total expenditure of Ksh.18.55 billion.

Of this amount, Ksh.6.73 billion was classified under “other expenses”, a category used for expenditure that could not be classified under ordinary votes.

The disclosure has raised questions over the use of public funds at State House, with the Controller of Budget report appearing to have grouped undisclosed expenditure under the “other expenses” category.

State House had been allocated Ksh.8.5 billion in the budget presented to Parliament in June 2025.

By December 2025, however, the institution had spent more than 90 per cent of its annual allocation, prompting the National Treasury to allow additional expenditure under Article 223 of the Constitution.

At the time, State House had hosted several delegations, including a gathering of about 10,000 teachers, who were each reportedly given Ksh.10,000 as tokens.

The Controller of Budget report also shows that the National Treasury spent more on emergency security operations than the National Police Service during the financial year.

The Treasury spent Ksh.12.62 billion on emergency security operations, compared to Ksh.11.39 billion spent by the National Police Service.

The State Department for Internal Security and National Administration recorded the highest expenditure, at Ksh.21.53 billion.

Security operations are ordinarily confidential in nature, with the additional expenditure now raising questions over how the funds were utilised and their beneficiaries.

The Controller of Budget has also raised concern over the country's rising public debt.

Kenya's public debt stock increased from Ksh.11.80 trillion in June 2025 to Ksh.13.01 trillion in June 2026, representing a 10 per cent increase.

The report notes that public debt now stands at about 74 per cent of GDP, above the statutory threshold of 55 per cent.

The Controller of Budget further warned that domestic borrowing is rising at an unusual rate, with domestic debt accounting for 56 per cent of the total public debt.

The increase in domestic debt has been attributed to increased borrowing through Treasury bills and bonds, while external debt grew following the issuance of new international sovereign bonds.

The rising debt stock has also pushed up the cost of servicing Kenya's public debt.

The country spent Ksh.1.77 trillion on debt servicing in the 2025/2026 financial year, up from Ksh.1.59 trillion the previous year.

Over the last four years, Kenya's public debt has increased from Ksh.8.59 trillion in June 2022 to Ksh.13.12 trillion in June 2026, representing a 53 per cent increase.