Kenya’s Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o recently shared some shocking news. Between July 2024 and February 2025, both the national and county governments took out an amazing Sh1.3 trillion (about $10 billion USD) from public funds without using the official financial system that is supposed to make sure everything is clear and accountable.
According to Nation Daily, the highest manual withdrawal occurred within 7 months to February 25, accumulating to Sh 222.61 billion. Some of the money cannot be accounted for by the county governments.
The Judiciary Fund also withdrew manually Sh 13.3 billion, while pensions manually withdrew Sh 11.35 billion, and the Equalization Fund followed the procedure and manually withdrew Sh 1.96 billion, among others.
This news has caused a lot of worry among the public and has been widely discussed on social media, where many people are asking for explanations.
The Controller of Budget said that these manual withdrawals raise serious concerns about how Kenya is managing its money.
The system that was supposed to help prevent corruption and improve government spending, called the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), was ignored in these transactions.
This situation makes people question the supervision of financial activities in one of the largest economies in East Africa.
The report was released just days ago and comes during ongoing discussions about how the government handles money, which has become a hot topic online.
Many Kenyans are expressing their anger on social media. For example, one user wrote, “Sh1.3 trillion taken out by hand? What happened to IFMIS? This is why we can’t trust the system.”
Another user connected this issue to larger discussions about how the government runs things and shared thoughts on how it affects projects in the counties.
Experts say that using manual processes could show weaknesses in financial checks, especially as Kenya deals with problems like rising prices and paying off debts, which are also common topics people are searching for online.
The controller’s office has not yet explained what the withdrawn money was used for, but it is expected that they will share more details soon about how much was spent by the national and county governments.
This new information is getting more people talking about the government’s responsibility for handling funds, with searches for terms like “government spending” and “Kenya economy” increasing a lot over the past week.
