Treasury Kicks Off 2026/27 Budget Planning with Sector Working Groups
By Chemtai Kirui, Nairobi, Kenya,
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi launched the process of preparing the 2026/27 financial year national budget at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), setting the stage for ministries, departments and agencies to justify their funding requests.
The launch, held on Monday, also unveiled Sector Working Groups (SWGs), which will play a pivotal role in formulating the medium-term budget.
SWGs are formally included in the budget cycle through established Economic Planning Sub-Sector guidelines, which mandate their role in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework process.
These groups, comprising government ministries, departments, agencies, and stakeholders, are tasked with aligning spending proposals to national priorities and ensuring efficient resource allocation.
In his address, Mbadi said the Treasury will fully adopt zero-based budgeting in FY 2026/27, a method where ministries must justify every expenditure from scratch rather than using previous budgets as a baseline.
He said the approach aims to cut wastage, remove duplication, and improve accountability in the use of public funds.
Sector Working Groups will now collect proposals from ministries and agencies, applying zero-based budgeting to ensure each program’s funding is justified.
The budget preparation process is anchored in the Constitution of Kenya, which mandates transparency, accountability, and public participation, and guided by the Public Finance Management Act (Cap. 412A), which outlines procedures for budget preparation and approval.
The initiative also aligns with the government’s broader economic strategy, including the Fourth Medium-Term Plan (MTP IV) and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), prioritizing sectors such as agriculture, affordable housing, MSMEs, universal healthcare, and the digital economy.
The State Department for Economic Planning will guide the Sector Working Groups to ensure proposals support these national priorities.
“This financial year, we should not have any excuse to adopt zero-based budgeting,” CS Mbadi said.
SWGs will compile draft sector reports in the coming months, feeding into the 2026 Budget Policy Statement to be tabled in Parliament early next year.
