NIS gets additional Sh9.3bn Budget due to ‘regional instability’
National Intelligence Service Director-General Noordin Haji.
What you need to know:
- The National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee chairperson Nelson Koech said the NIS budget has been revised from Sh46.35 billion to Sh55.65 billion, an increase of Sh9.3 billion.
- He told the National Assembly’s Liaison committee that the upward revision of the NIS budget is “on account of the need to enhance security operations due to regional instability in Somalia, DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, and South Sudan.”
Regional instability, increased Al-Shabab threat, use of drones by insurgents to conduct attacks on key installations and rising cyber-attack cases have led the Treasury to allocate the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Sh9.3 billion to cater for “increased operations.”
The National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee chairperson, Nelson Koech, said the NIS budget has been revised from Sh46.35 billion to Sh55.65 billion, an increase of Sh9.3 billion.
He told the National Assembly’s Liaison committee that the upward revision of the NIS budget is “on account of the need to enhance security operations due to regional instability in Somalia, DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, and South Sudan.”
“In the Financial Year 2024/25 Supplementary Estimates No. II, NIS budget has been revised from Sh46.35 billion to Sh55.65 billion, reflecting an increase of Sh9.3 billion on account of the following: -need for increased surveillance due to Al-Shabaab threats/attacks, and resurgence of ISIS & OLA (Ethiopia) activities on our borders.”
“Address the use of drones by insurgents to conduct attacks on key installations. Increase service capacity to deal with rising cyber-attack cases, and continue monitoring the security situation due to heightened political activities in the country,” David Karanja, the NIS Director of Administration told the committee in submissions made on March 5, 2025.
In a report on the NIS supplementary budget tabled before the Liaison Committee on Monday, March 10, 2025, that out of the Sh46.35 billion, the Service had spent Sh28.74 billion as of December 31, 2024, which is equivalent to 62.01 percent budget absorption. Mr Karanja appeared before Mr Koech's committee on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, to represent NIS Director-General Noordin Haji.
Mr Koech told the committee that the NIS had not withdrawn any money yet under Article 223 of the Constitution.
“The committee after receiving, scrutinising, and deliberating on both the contents of the Supplementary Estimates II and submissions from the various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) under its purview observed that the NIS budget as is in the books is submitted as a one-line item,” Mr Koech said.
“In the submissions made, there is a further categorisation without a detailed itemised breakdown for the committee to fully interrogate the figures before approval.”
Mr Koech’s team has recommended that the NIS, in its future submissions to the Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations, should provide a more detailed itemised breakdown of its budget in camera to enable the committee to fully appreciate the cost drivers of the NIS budget before approving it.
NIS budgetary spending is not open to public scrutiny and its budget is usually presented as a single line item.
“We have scheduled an in-house meeting with the NIS to get the finer detailed breakdown of the Sh9.3 billion additional expenditure,” Mr Koech said.
He told the committee chaired by Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss that his team had in the past visited the NIS installations to learn what the spy agency does.
“For counter-terrorism, I know there is a lot to be done. It involves a lot of money to gather intelligence to thwart potential threats. You can only spend money to get crucial and credible intelligence information,” Mr Koech said.