The High Court is expected to deliver a ruling on whether or not the 2026/2027 Budget Statement will be presented in Parliament by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi.
The National Budget reading, scheduled for June 11, 2026, faces an unprecedented legal challenge after the High Court heard arguments on Tuesday seeking to stop CS Mbadi and Parliament from tabling, presenting, deliberating on, debating, or approving the Budget Statement and the subsequent Appropriations Bill based on the already approved budget ceilings.
The case was filed by the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD), which is seeking court orders to bar Mbadi from presenting the Budget Statement and to prevent Parliament from approving both the Budget Statement and the Appropriations Bill. CMD argues that the proposed allocation to the Political Parties Fund is unconstitutional.
In submissions made before the court, Advocate Frank Walukwe, representing the ex parte applicant, Kiraitu Murungi, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy, argued that the budget ceilings approved by Parliament for the Political Parties Fund fall significantly below the statutory allocation provided under Section 24(1)(a) of the Political Parties Act.
According to the applicant, Parliament approved an allocation of KSh2.3 billion instead of the KSh16.7 billion that should have been set aside for the fund, representing 0.3 percent of national government revenue as required by law.
Murungi has already secured a significant procedural victory after the court granted leave for judicial review proceedings challenging the alleged persistent underfunding of the Political Parties Fund.
The petitioners are seeking several orders, including:
- An order to quash the National Assembly’s resolution approving KSh2.323 billion as the budget ceiling for the Political Parties Fund.
- An order of mandamus compelling the National Treasury and Parliament to allocate no less than 0.3 percent of national government revenue to the fund in the 2026/2027 financial year budget.
- An order of mandamus compelling the disbursement of KSh16.77 billion in what CMD describes as statutory arrears owed to its member political parties from 2022 to date.
Justice William Musyoka is set to deliver his ruling today (June 10, 2026) in what could become a landmark decision for Kenya’s public finance process.
Should the court halt the budget process, it would mark the first time in Kenya’s history—and possibly in East Africa that a national budget reading is stopped through a judicial order, potentially reshaping the relationship between the courts, Parliament, and the Executive in budget-making.
