Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has warned that ministries risk losing funding if they fail to conduct proper public participation in the budget process, as Kenya shifts to zero-based budgeting for the 2026/27 financial year.

• The zero-based budgeting approach requires all expenditure proposals to be justified from scratch each financial year, moving away from historical trends.
• John Mbadi emphasized that citizen engagement is no longer optional for budget requests, stating, “If you are not conducting public participation, you may not get the resources you are requesting.”
• Samuel Atandi, chairman of the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee, confirmed that parliament has directed sector working groups to fully adopt zero-based budgeting to ensure every expenditure is justified and inefficiencies are eliminated.
• Parliament has also ordered the Intergovernmental Technical Relations Committee to unbundle devolved functions like health, agriculture, and water, which are still handled by the national government, to curb duplication and reduce disputes.
• Both Mbadi and Atandi highlighted the clearance of pending bills accumulated between 2020/21 and 2022 as critical for unlocking liquidity for small and medium-sized enterprises.