Kenya's 2025/26 Budget Puts Healthcare Front and Center as Education and Sports Face Cuts

Biggest Healthcare Funding Yet as Priorities Shift

Kenya’s 2025/26 budget delivers the highest health sector funding the country has ever seen—Sh138.1 billion, up Sh15 billion from last year. This decision comes at a time when hospitals, doctors, and patients have been raising concerns about long waiting times, critical staff shortages, and underfunded emergency response. It’s the clearest sign yet that the Treasury is betting big on public health, but there’s a twist: the boost comes as money is pulled from education and sports to bankroll both the health push and a stronger military presence.

The Treasury’s plan got a significant update after Parliament’s Budget and Appropriations Committee stepped in, pumping an extra Sh33.01 billion into key programs. This extra cash means the government will be dipping even more into both local borrowing (aiming for Sh916.5 billion) and foreign debt to keep the lights on while balancing urgent demands in different sectors.

Where the Money Goes—and Whose Budgets Shrink

So, who’s benefitting from this new focus on health? The numbers spell it out. Medical interns will see Sh4.02 billion set aside for their pay—a long-standing pain point for young doctors and a source of recent strikes and heated debates. Primary healthcare funding more than triples to Sh13.1 billion, signaling a new push to fix clinics and get basic services to rural areas. Kenyatta National Hospital, the heart of specialized care, grabs Sh18.8 billion, the highest single chunk for any health facility. There’s also Sh10 billion to beef up the emergency and critical illness fund, and Sh4.06 billion to settle ongoing disputes with Universal Health Coverage (UHC) workers over unpaid allowances.

• Kenya budget highlights the focus on basic care, vaccinations (Sh4.62 billion), and the infrastructure needed to make sure the most vulnerable get treated faster.
• On the flip side, the military gets a sizable Sh13 billion increase—no details on exact plans, but it’s a sharp rise given the country’s recent security challenges.
• Education and sports, in contrast, see their budgets decline. School and university heads have already voiced concern, worrying about teacher shortages and unfinished sports facilities, but for now those sectors will have to make do with less.

This budget signals clear winners and losers. While healthcare is being supercharged, the shift could leave educators and athletes feeling sidelined. Meanwhile, the focus on domestic and foreign borrowing to fill the gaps reflects the economic squeeze Kenya is feeling, as the government juggles higher expectations with the realities of tighter revenue streams and mounting debt obligations.