Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi faces growing scrutiny over public spending after the Controller of Budget revealed that the government approved KSh281.5 billion in additional expenditure without prior parliamentary authorization during the 2025/26 financial year.
In her August 2026 National Government Budget Implementation Review Report, Controller of Budget Dr. Margaret Nyakang’o detailed that the unauthorized spending comprised KSh 212.7 in recurrent expenditure and KSh 68.8 billion in development funds. She cautioned that several funded activities represented predictable operational costs rather than unexpected emergencies.
Nyakang’o raised serious concerns about the reliance on Article 223 of the Constitution, warning that the “constitutional provision should not become a fallback for poor budgeting or be used as a way of avoiding Parliament’s oversight of public finances.”
Article 223 allows the national executive to spend funds outside regular budget allocations when money is withdrawn from the Contingencies Fund, existing appropriations prove insufficient, or unforeseen needs arise. Parliament must subsequently approve the expenditure within two months of the initial withdrawal.
However, the report highlights that many of the approvals issued by Mbadi covered routine government operations that belonged in the annual budget estimates.
Since taking office as Treasury CS in August 2024, CS Mbadi has overseen three supplementary budgets in the 2024/25 financial year and two in 2025/26, with the latter pair totaling KSh373.9 billion.
The National Treasury itself emerged as one of the largest beneficiaries of Article 223 funding during the 2025/26 financial year, securing KSh86.29 billion for an International Sovereign Bond liability-management operation and another KSh58.13 billion for a bond buyback alongside accrued interest.
The report also highlighted several other notable allocations:
-
Teachers Service Commission: Received KSh7 billion for Social Health Authority payments.
-
National Intelligence Service: Allocated KSh4.5 billion for enhanced security operations.
-
Civil Registration: Received KSh3.5 billion for national identity card and birth certificate processing.
-
Sports Infrastructure: The State Department for Sports received KSh3.9 billion to meet Kenya’s Africa Cup of Nations 2027 hosting commitments – an obligation initially included in draft estimates but dropped from the final budget.
Nyakang’o noted that a similar pattern occurred in the 2024/25 financial year when officials authorized KSh1.68 billion under Article 223 to cover Kenya’s mandatory hosting fee for the African Nations Championship.
To protect fiscal integrity, Nyakang’o recommended implementing stronger economic forecasting, stricter commitment planning, and rigorous scrutiny of expenditure proposals. She also called for a comprehensive review of the legal framework governing Article 223 to enforce stronger financial controls and restore credibility to Kenya’s national budget process.
The post Mbadi Put on the Spot Over KSh281.5bn in Unauthorised Spending appeared first on Bossnana.
