The National Treasury Building in Nairobi.
The Treasury tapped Sh11 billion from the national emergency fund in December 2024 to avert a strike by doctors and pay contractors amid dire cash flow challenges, Controller of Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang’o has revealed.
Controller of Budget Dr Margaret Nyakang'o when she appeared before the Senate Finance and Budget Committee at County Hall, Nairobi on March 11, 2025.
The cash withdrawal was approved by Dr Nyakang’o under Article 223 of the Constitution and was equivalent to 64.9 percent of all funds approved for spending under the special arrangement over six months.
Article 223 of the Constitution allows the government to spend money from the Contingencies Fund that has not been appropriated for any purpose under the Appropriation Act.
The approval of Parliament for any spending of this kind is required within two months after the first withdrawal of the funds. If Parliament is not sitting at the time or is sitting but adjourns before the approval has been sought, the approval shall be sought within two weeks after it next sits.
Salary arrears
A CoB report for the six months ending December 2024 shows that the office approved the withdrawal of Sh1.75 billion from the Consolidated Fund on December 20, 2024, to “cater for salary arrears accrued to medical doctors arising from the implementation of 2017-2021 CBA (collective bargaining agreement)”.
The request was presented by the State Department for Public Health and approved by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on the same day, amid high pressure as fears of disruption of health services during the festive season soared.
Over the six months to December 2024, Dr Nyakang’o approved Sh16.9 billion for spending under Article 223 of the Constitution.
The CoB also approved the spending of Sh8 billion under the emergency clause on December 9 to facilitate the settlement of some pending bills by the State Department for Roads and the implementation of urgent road infrastructure, the report says. Road agencies have had the highest pending bills in the government, with Kenya National Highways Authority (Sh89.9 billion) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Sh66.3 billion) leading the pack.
Treasury CS John Mbadi.
“In the first six months of the financial year 2024/2025 exchequer issues pursuant to Article 223 of the Constitution of Kenya was Sh16.95 billion, comprising of Sh12.8 billion for development expenditure and Sh4.15 billion for recurrent expenditure,” said the CoB report.
Dr Nyakang’o also approved the spending of Sh354.4 million by the State Department For Broadcasting and Telecommunications to facilitate the settlement of pending bills under the Government Advertising Agency) in December.
Treasury had approved the spending of Sh627.69 million for the GAA expense, but the COB approved a figure of Sh273.3 million less.
Between December 5 and December 19, the COB approved the withdrawal of Sh900 million from the consolidated fund under Article 223 for spending by the state department for internal security “to implement planned activities that were not budgeted for in Supplementary I Estimates”, the report notes.
The Sh900 million was approved in three tranches of Sh300 million each and topped up another Sh800 million that had been approved for spending under the emergency clause on October 28.
Treasury had approved the state department to spend a total of Sh2.6 billion under the emergency clause over six months, but the COB approved only Sh1.7 billion.
Other expenses approved under Article 223 of the Constitution over the six months include Sh343.7 million to cater for the multi-agency security support mission to Haiti which was approved on September 24 and October 1.
The COB also approved a Sh2.3 billion request by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics to cater for the Eastern Africa Regional Statistics World Bank programme on September 24, and a Sh2.5 billion request by the state department for internal security to facilitate the implementation of the National Police Service modernisation project on November 27.
