Mwananchi Budget sinks households, small businesses, youth and counties

Finance and Planning Committee Chairman Kuria Kimani, National Treasury CS John Mbadi and National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Samuel Atandi at Parliament Buildings, on June 11, 2026. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi called it a ‘‘Mwananchi Budget’’ — a budget for the common citizen. He promised no new taxes, affordable housing, and bottom-up transformation.

But economists, financial analysts, and new data on Kenya’s cost-of-living crisis say the 2026/27 spending plan delivers the opposite of a hustler economy.