Ruto, Kindiki win big in rushed Sh18b mini budget

President William Ruto and his deputy Kithure Kindiki, have emerged as major winners in a Sh18.24 billion supplementary budget rushed through Parliament just 14 days before the financial year ends.

This comes as the embattled Ruto administration funnels billions of shillings to the presidency, security agencies and youth programmes with barely 14 months remaining until the 2027 general election.

The Supplementary Estimates II, approved by the National Assembly on June 16, increase ministerial expenditure for the 2025/26 financial year from Sh2.913 trillion to Sh2.931 trillion – a net increase of Sh18.24 billion. 

The overall national budget, including debt repayment and county allocations, stands at approximately Sh4.695 trillion. 

With just days remaining until the new financial year begins on July 1, the timing of the allocations has raised procedural and transparency questions, with critics accusing the government of using public funds for opaque operations.

Under the mini budget, the State House receives an additional Sh1 billion, raising its allocation to Sh18.54 billion. 

The funds are designated for operations and maintenance expenses that were not adequately provided for in the approved budget. The Office of the Deputy President, occupied by Kindiki, gets a Sh200 million top-up, pushing its total budget to Sh5.3 billion.

Similar last-minute allocations have in the past drawn sharp scrutiny from multiple quarters.

The Controller of Budget has, for instance, repeatedly flagged executive spending excesses. 
In a recent report, Margaret Nyakang'o revealed that the national government spent Sh25.46 billion on travel alone between July 2024 and June 2025 – barely a drop from the President's promised 50 per cent cut. "I still see elements of too much foreign travel in the sense that we are now encroaching on resources for development," Nyakang'o said earlier, warning that excessive travel was derailing development.

The Ruto administration has, in recent months, been put on the spot by Nyakang'o for what she has characterised as profligate spending, with the Controller warning that excessive travel was encroaching on resources meant for development.

The biggest winners in the mini budget are the security apparatus. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) secures an additional Sh3.5 billion, bringing its allocation to Sh64.9 billion. The State Department for Internal Security and National Administration receives Sh1.55 billion to enhance capacity for critical security operations. Combined, security-related agencies have netted over Sh5 billion in this mini-budget alone.

The State Department for Sports is the single largest beneficiary, receiving Sh4.1 billion from the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund. The State Department for Youth Affairs and Creative Economy gets Sh1.94 billion, while the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development receives Sh3.85 billion – both funded under the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Programme. Other allocations include Sh2.3 billion for the Mwache Dam Project and Sh1.5 billion to clear arrears for national examinations.

The supplementary budget comes as Ruto's government, elected in 2022 on a populist "hustler" platform promising to grow jobs and incomes for low-income households, finds itself under intense pressure to address a runaway cost of living. Fuel prices have surged intermittently, pushing up transport and food costs and deepening frustration among millions of households.

The government is scrambling to raise additional revenues to sustain operations and service debt obligations, with the next financial year's debt repayment bill projected to hit Sh2.3 trillion.

The supplementary budget's passage with just days before the financial year closes has also raised procedural concerns. The Budget and Appropriations Committee noted that some proposed reallocations exceed the ten per cent threshold prescribed under Section 43 of the PFM Act, but still recommended approval. The Committee also observed with "appreciation" that the National Treasury had not issued any funds under Article 223 of the Constitution – the emergency spending provision – a fact it cited as evidence of fiscal discipline.