Fellow taxpayers, is the 2025/26 budget really worth paying for?

The recently tabled 2025/26 National Budget confirms what many Kenyans have long feared: this is not a budget for the people. Despite a no more tax claim the budget does nothing to ease the burden on cost of living, critical social sectors like education and healthcare have faced real cuts and chronic underfunding — while spending on the Executive and defence swells unchecked. At a time when Kenyans are asked to sacrifice more, they are paradoxically receiving less. Take education: The budget allocates KSh 701.9 billion to this sector, which might look like an increase compared to last year’s KSh 676.7 billion on paper but is in fact KSh 22 billion less than the government’s own projections in the 2025 Budget Policy Statement. This means crucial investments in basic education, TVET, and science are being sidelined. With the current minimal capitation, public schools are being set up to fail. How can we claim to value education when we barely fund it?