The Institute for Social Accountability
Wananchi Rada!
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.
Stealing the Future is not just a title — it is a painful truth and a call to action. This report lays bare the systemic plunder of Kenya’s present and future, driven by ballooning debt, the looting of public resources, and the steady collapse of essential services like healthcare, education, and access to dignified livelihoods.
“Living Accountability” reflects the idea that social accountability (SAcc) is rooted in the lived experiences, beliefs, and values of ordinary citizens. It emphasizes that accountability is not imposed from above but emerges from communities themselves, shaped by their collective understanding of governance and justice.
Four in every ten Kenyans are poor, and many more are at risk of falling into poverty unless urgent and decisive action is taken to allocate public resources wisely and spend prudently. Their dreams of a dignified life are constantly shattered, and essential public services, particularly in agriculture, education, health, and other critical sectors, continue to deteriorate.
The following brief summarizes Kenya’s debt crisis, the role of weak governance and corruption, and several top reforms needed to assure the accountable use of financing moving forward.
This information pack is a guide to understanding the budget-making process and how you, as a citizen, can influence decisions that affect your daily life- like healthcare, schools, and roads! It breaks down the complicated stuff (yes, those endless documents and meetings) into simple, clear steps.
A Citizen Accountability Audit (CAA) is a participatory approach where the community/citizens are involved in promoting transparency and accountability in governance.
The Okoa Uchumi campaign1 (OUC) is a civil society initiative of over 40 organizations formed with the primary objective of promoting political accountability in Kenya’s public finance management. The campaign is committed to the quest for deep, meaningful and lasting transformation of Kenya’s economic systems, towards a system that upholds the principles of inclusion, equity, accountability, and above all, respects and adheres to the constitution.
The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA), as part of and the Convenor of the Okoa
Uchumi Coalition, has closely been monitoring the escalating public debt crisis in
Kenya. Since 2019, Kenya has increasingly relied on the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) for loan redemption, with IMF loans growing from Ksh. 49.2 billion as of June
2019 to Ksh. 421.5 billion as of December 2023. This is a situation that demands
immediate attention and action.