CS Mbadi: 85 projects to suffer in Trump aid pause

The US has cut off funding for about 85 programmes valued at about Sh52.2 billion to Kenya following an executive order by President Donald Trump stopping foreign aid, Treasury CS John Mbadi has said.

However, critical life-saving programmes, emergency food assistance and police missions in Haiti will continue receiving funding.

“The programmes, out of these executive orders, which have been running in this country were about 100. With this executive order, the programmes may be reduced to only 15,” Mbadi said.

The CS made the disclosures when he appeared before the Senate plenary on Wednesday to respond to the questions by the lawmakers.

Mbadi said he has held a meeting with top officials at the US embassy in Nairobi who assured him that funding for critical initiatives would not be affected.

“These are the areas that are going to be saved after my engagement, and I requested him to give a writeup of the impact of the executive order, including areas that will not be affected,” he said.

Mbadi said lifesaving interventions such as for infectious diseases and emergency food assistance and the ongoing police mission in Haiti have been spared.

The US President, who ascended to power on January 20, signed an executive order –Reevaluating and Realigning United States Aid – pausing all US foreign development assistance for 90 days pending a review.

In Kenya, Mbadi said the US funded about 100 programmes through implementing partners but not directly into the country’s budget. 

“We signed the development corporation framework agreement with USAID on December 8, 2019. The initial contribution was $50.01 million (Sh6.5 billion) but has been increased to $1.69 billion (Sh220.47 billion). Mbadi said the USAID-funded programmes in Kenya relate to education, food security and governance.

“The amount for the said programmes is approximately $158.9 million (Sh20 billion) while the total assistance is approximately $405.4 million (Sh52.7 billion) in FY 2024-25 from USAID, which includes other sectors such as health, economic growth, water and environment,” he said.

In Education, USAID is running programmes valued at $22.3 million (Sh2.8 billion). It involves improving literacy across primary schools, training teachers to enhance reading instruction for more than nine million teachers and providing support to Tvets in Kilifi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Machakos.

In governance, USAID set aside $8.6 million (Sh1.1 billion) to strengthen the institutional capacity of key democratic institutions through training and technical assistance, supporting ongoing civic and voter education.

USAID is also promoting accountability in service delivery and reducing fraud, waste and abuse of resources in the health sector in target counties.

On food security, the US government has pledged $128.1 million (Sh16.5 billion) for humanitarian and agricultural assistance.

The specific areas include provision of 650,000 refugees in Daadab and Kakuma and nutrition support across 53 malnutrition hotspots in Samburu, Turkana, Isiolo and Marsabit counties.

USAID is also supporting improved farming practices, which in the past benefited two million farmers and resulted in $100 million (Sh12.9 billion) in annual sales.

Mbadi said the Treasury is conducting a review of the existing budget allocation to prioritise funding for essential services in health, education, governance and food security to be included in Budget Estimate Supplementary III.

The CS said the counties are also expected to act accordingly to ensure uninterrupted service delivery for devolved functions.

The government is engaging with other development partners to explore opportunities for additional funding and technical assistance to plug the budget gap.

“For instance, the universal healthcare agenda, reforms under SHA, vulnerable populations will gain access to a broad spectrum of benefits, including screening and dialysis, kidney transplants and plug the gap by some of USAID’s interventions,” he said.