Why Zero-based budgeting could be a game-changer

The Finance Bill 2025 is not just a fiscal instrument but an existential audit of the nation's soul. With public debt at 68.3 per cent of GDP, a threshold the World Economic Forum warns flirts with distress, this Bill tests whether Kenya can reallocate scarcity into shared prosperity. At its core lies Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB), a radical shift in governance philosophy. No line item is inherited. No expense is automatic. Every shilling must fight for its place in a country where 35 per cent of citizens survive on less than $2 a day. ZBB is no longer about balance sheets but about dismantling everyday inequality.

ZBB overturns the ritual of "last year's plus 5 per cent," stripping patronage and inefficiency of their quiet immunity. Ministries, counties, and agencies must now justify every coin from scratch, anchoring budgets to need, impact, and equity. Early signals are unambiguous: Budgets for executive offices, long sanctuaries of opulence, have been cut by 18 post executive offices, with savings redirected to need based development. This is ZBB in action: Shifting resources from political theatrics to programmes that sustain life itself.