Laikipia residents have said the budget estimates for the 2025/2026 Financial Year will overburden Kenyans with more tax burden, saying the planners should reduce it.
Speaking at Nanyuki National Government Constituency Development Fund Hall on the days of the public participation on the budget, participants called on the National Treasury to trim the budget downwards and let the country live within its means instead of borrowing heavily to support development projects.
The sittings, chaired by a member of the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee, John Paul Mwirigi, were told that much efforts and resources should be directed at promoting health, education, and agriculture to boost the economy.
The former Laikipia CECM incharge of Finance Murungi Ndai noted that currently the debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio was at 68 percent, up from 55 percent, terming it as a breach of the law and a warning to the country to keep the debt burden at the minimum.
“A trillion shillings will go to service the debt and at the same time, we will be going for a loan of the same amount to finance this budget. We have to live within our means because the more we borrow, the more it become expensive in the long run,” said Ndai.
Participants who were drawn from Laikipia East and North Constituencies warned against reducing the budget allocated on education and health and lamented that public hospitals were facing a shortage of drugs, a situation that was compromising the universal health care initiative.
Other projects that were highlighted during public participation include the Nanyuki –Rumuruti road, Nanyuki –Doldol, and rural roads which residents urged sufficient budget allocation for their construction.
Twelve counties—Laikipia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Makueni, Migori, Nyeri, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Wajir, Samburu, and Kwale—have been identified for the public participation exercise whose contribution will form the Finance Bill 2025 ahead of the presentation of the Sh4.24 trillion budget in June.
Elsewhere in Migori, the committee chaired by Kuria West Member of Parliament Mathias Robi affirmed that it would ensure that most of the identified projects and programmes in the budget are allocated enough funds to see their full implementation.
While addressing the media at the Migori Teachers Training College, soon after holding their first public participation session, the committee chair, Mr. Robi, stated that it was a norm every financial year for the budget committee to travel around the country to take views from the public.
The legislature revealed that each year, an amount equal to Sh2 billion is allocated for the selected counties for development projects. On this, he says Migori County will benefit as it is among the eleven selected counties.
“In every financial year, there is Sh2 billion that is set aside for counties that are selected for public participation. This year, we selected eleven counties, and we are here because Migori is among the selected lot,” stated the chair.
“I promise the people of Migori and the rest of the country that when we go and sit down, we will look into the many proposals we have received. We have given the ministers enough money because we have heard where the problems are,” added the legislator.
Suna West Member of Parliament, Mr. Peter Masara, lauded the local people for coming out in large numbers to participate in the budget-making process, stating that it gives county residents an opportunity to choose the projects they are most interested in.
He assured them that their contributions will be taken into consideration, and if not in this financial year, then in future plans for the county, as they are all recorded and dated.
“These contributions will help this committee, especially us leaders of Migori, to select projects that resonate with our people’s demands and needs. It does not have to be in this financial year, but if a window opens, we will have a variety to choose from,” said Masara.
Similarly, Rangwe Member of Parliament Dr. Lilian Gogo declared that the session was a parliamentary proceeding and everything would be taken into consideration.
She assured the public that any time the president gives a commitment that a project was going to be done, there was an allocation ready for it, and if not, the presidential delivery unit will see it done.
Other committee members present included Tom Odege (Nyatike) and Ruth Odinga, Kisumu Women Representative.
By Muturi Mwangi, George Agimba and Polycarp Ochieng
