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Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning John Mbadi.
Controller of Budget (CoB), Margaret Nyakang’o, has accused the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi of allegedly abusing the law on access to emergency funds to provide additional and unbudgeted cash to state agencies.
Dr Nyakang’o said in the current fiscal period- 2025/26, Mr Mbadi has already approved Sh43.5 billion in additional funding to various government entities, including the National Treasury, in breach of the law.
The extra funding comprises Sh33.54 billion for recurrent expenditure and Sh9.95 billion for development spend, with the State Department for Transport's additional budget of Sh6.3 billion and the National Treasury’s Sh4.6 billion, the biggest beneficiaries.
Interestingly, some of the CS Mbadi’s approvals include expenses on foreseeable circumstances, for instance, payments towards Covid-19-related pending bills that fell due more than six years ago.
Such expenses, Dr Nyakang’o says, should have been included in the budget approved by the National Assembly in June 2025.
Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o.
“To reduce over-reliance on Article 223 of the Constitution on foreseen expenses, it is necessary to adopt planning, budget practices, and sound expenditure management by prioritising all essential services and aligning them with operational realities during budget formulation and implementation,” says Dr Nyakang’o. Article 223 of the Constitution allows the national government to access additional funding during budget implementation by spending money that has not been appropriated by the National Assembly.
However, this only applies if the amount approved is insufficient or a need for unbudgeted expenditure arises for which no amount has been appropriated, or money has been withdrawn from the Contingencies Fund.
Approval of the National Assembly
Although Article 223 (3) states that the approval of the National Assembly under “this Article shall be sought within two months after the first withdrawal of the money,” more than five months after the first withdrawal, no approval has been sought.
This, even as the CoB demanded that Mr Mbadi comply with the Constitution by seeking approval of the withdrawn amounts within the requisite timeline.
“The CS National Treasury should expedite the submission of the necessary documentation to the National Assembly for approval within the stipulated two-month period to ensure compliance with constitutional requirements,” says Dr Nyakang’o.
For instance, Sh200 million was approved by the CoB for withdrawal on September 25, 2025, by the Registrar of Political Parties (RPP) to cater for the Civil Appeal of 2018 in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) case, but no post facto regularisation by the National Treasury has been sought yet.
