MPs Expose How Govt Blew Half a Billion on Adverts
The government created the advertising agency to handle and place adverts on its behalf...
✨ Key Highlights
A Kenyan parliamentary committee is scrutinizing the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications over the expenditure of nearly Ksh500 million on government advertisements. The controversy stems from a recent Auditor-General's report flagging payments made through the Government Advertising Agency (GAA), with lawmakers demanding verifiable records.
- The Auditor-General's report for the financial year ending June 2023 flagged Ksh495,389,974 spent on advertising, printing, and information supply services.
- The National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Butere MP Tindi Mwale, questioned the GAA’s failure to provide circulation figures for the MyGov pullout.
- Gatundu South MP Gabriel Kagombe alleged payments were made to The People Daily even after it stopped printing, while Broadcasting and Telecommunications PS Stephen Isaboke defended the transactions as being under valid past contracts.
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Government Seeks Funds Through Privatization and Loan Recovery Amid Scrutiny on Ad Spending - September 2025
The Kenyan government aims to rapidly privatize 207 non-strategic public enterprises to raise Ksh149 billion for the current budget, as detailed in the 2025-2026 Financial Year Annual Borrowing Plan. This action is part of a strategy to fill a Ksh613.5 billion budget shortfall. Concurrently, the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs warned that Kenyans who default on Hustler Fund loans will be blocked from accessing loans from banks. This is a measure to increase repayment for the fund which has disbursed nearly Ksh70 billion. Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee is scrutinizing the State Department for Broadcasting and Telecommunications over the expenditure of nearly Ksh500 million on government advertisements, following flags from an Auditor-General's report.
