Chief of the Defence Forces General Charles Kahariri, Inspector General of the National Police Service Douglas Kanja and Director General Noordin Haji: The National Treasury cites increased security needs due to regional instability in the region, as well as increasing cyber-attacks and drone threats.
The government wants an extra Sh32 billion for the security sector over the next four months, which is more than a third of the Sh88 billion mini-budget being considered by the National Assembly.
National Intelligence Service (Sh9.8 billion), Ministry of Defense (Sh6.8 billion ), National Police Service (Sh6.3 billion) and State Department for Internal Security and National Administration (Sh9.21 billion) are among those with the biggest allocations of additional funding to run operations until June 30.
State House (Sh3.81 billion) is also among the select agencies that have been allocated huge amounts in extra budgets for the current financial year, according to the supplementary budget II currently being processed by the National Assembly.
The huge allocations to these state agencies are part of the Sh88.2 billion that the National Treasury wants the National Assembly to approve and includes Sh40.4 billion that has already been disbursed for the current financial year- 2024/25.
The National Treasury has justified the increase noting that it is based on the assumption that “total revenues are projected to increase from the approved budget from 16.9 percent to 17.6 percent of the GDP.”
“The total expenditure and net lending have been revised from the approved projection at 21.5 percent to 22.8 percent of the GDP,” the supplementary budget document before the House and signed by National Treasury CS John Mbadi explains.
Curiously, the increased allocations are coming at a time when the government is left with three months to the end of the current financial year.
While billions of shillings, some of which have already been spent, the purpose of which has been explained, others have not, raising questions on the programmes they are meant to finance.
For instance, NIS, which is audited by the Office of the Auditor-General though the findings are highly moderated, has been allocated Sh9.8 billion on top of the Sh46.4 billion presently allocated raising the cumulative budget to Sh56.2 billion.
The purpose for the drastic increase in the allocation to the spy man has not been explained.
This is notwithstanding that the allocations to NIS are largely for recurrent expenditures, which raises doubts as to why the amount was not included in the NIS’ budget and why it had to wait for the second supplementary budget in a year.
The Ministry of Defense has also been allocated Sh6.8 billion on top of the Sh172.95 billion that was allocated and approved by the National Assembly in June last year.
The extra allocation has not been explained. The Ministry of Defense is also audited by the Office of the Auditor-General but the findings are not entirely published.
The State Department for Medical Services is getting Sh8.7 billion on top of the Sh91.98 billion presently allocated, shooting its budget for this financial year to Sh100.7 billion.
The National Police Service (NPS) is getting Sh6.3 billion above the Sh114.97 billion budget approved in June last year.
“The increase is on account of enhancement of operations and maintenance to cater for security operations and police modernization,” the National Treasury document before the National Assembly explains.
State House which is undergoing multi-billion-shilling renovations, has also gotten Sh3.81 billion more, escalating its global budget for the current fiscal period to Sh8.12 billion from Sh4.31 billion.
“The increase is on account of enhancement of operation and maintenance,” the National Treasury document explained without elaborating further.
On February 24, 2025, State House Comptroller Katoo Ole Metito revealed that the multibillion-shilling State House renovations in Nairobi were financed and undertaken by NIS and the Ministry of Defense.
“NIS and the Ministry of Defense did the renovations to make State House look like a security area,” Mr Ole Metito told the Administration and Internal Affairs Committee of the National Assembly when he appeared before it to outline policy measures to justify the funding for the 2025/26 financial year.
The State House renovations were undertaken despite the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) raising concerns on account that the changes compromise its architectural designs, historical and cultural significance.
State House, before the renovations, had the original neo-classical design by British architect Sir Herbert Baker in 1907.
“The design alterations have diminished the recognition of State House,” the AAK statement read.
The State Department for Internal Security and National Administration is poised to have its current budget shoot to Sh37.4 billion.
This follows the additional allocation of Sh9.21 billion of which Sh6.9 billion includes Sh4.4 billion for operation and maintenance and Sh2.5 billion for police modernisation.
The State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services is poised for Sh5.9 billion on top of the Sh14.3 billion in the current period largely for migration and citizen services.
This increases the department’s global budget to Sh20.2 billion.
National Assembly’s Defence and Foreign Relations committee chairperson, Nelson Koech, told the House Liaison committee that the NIS budget had been increased by Sh9.3 billion “on account of the need to enhance security operations due to regional instability in Somalia, DRC, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan and South Sudan.”
“Address the use of drones by insurgents to conduct attacks on key installations. Increase service capacity to deal with rising cyberattacks cases, and continue monitoring the security situation due to heightened political activities in the country,” Mr David Karanja, the NIS Director of Administration, told the committee in submissions made on March 5, 2025.
