As Kenyans across the country continue to submit their input in the budget estimates for the fiscal year 2025/2026, the chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly, Alego Usonga MP Samwel Atandi, has assured that the government has put in place proper structures to cut unnecessary expenditure in order to reduce fiscal debt.
Speaking in an interview during the public hearings on the FY 2025/26 Estimates of the Revenue and Expenditure in Uasin Gishu County, the budget committee chair revealed that the budget presented before them by the Executive totals to about Sh4.2 trillion, where the national government is going to spend Sh2.5 trillion, county governments spend Sh405 billion, 1 trillion is going to pay interest on debts, and Sh300 billion is to be spent on pensions and constitutional commissions.
He noted that the budget is going to be supported by revenue projections from ordinary revenue, which is going to be collected from Kenyans, but more fundamentally, they are also going to borrow a little.
Atandi explained that one of the things the committee has done in this year’s budget is to cut our borrowing limits, noting that in the last financial year, 2024/2025, the fiscal deficit was 5.2 percent of GDP, but this year they have lowered it substantially to 4.5 percent only.
“We have tried our best to ensure that we live within our means by trying to cut all the unnecessary expenditure; we are not seeking to raise more taxes from Kenyans,” noted Atandi.
The budget and appropriations committee chair pointed out that the country is going to borrow about Sh800 billion, whose larger percentage is going to come from local domestic borrowing, noting that they are expecting very little from foreign borrowing.
“When you look at the estimates, we have not factored in any fund borrowing from the IMF. With the fiscal debt of 4.5 percent, we project that interest rates are not going to go up and therefore the government is going to borrow at affordable interest rates,” he explained.
He urged Kenyans to also participate in governance by paying their taxes and also supporting various projects the government is going to launch.
The MP underscored that they have proposed many projects for the region in the estimates, ranging from infrastructure and roads to hospitals, which are going to be actualized in the budget.
He further noted that members of the public from Uasin Gishu have various issues in their memoranda in respect to the key areas for consideration, as he assured them that the issues raised, ranging from infrastructure, electricity, water, and agriculture (especially diversification from maize to coffee), to health and education, are going to be considered.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
