High Court Orders Treasury, 20 Counties to Allocate 30% to Development

The High Court on Thursday, January 23, issued orders directing the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and 20 county governors to allocate 30 per cent of their budgets towards development as per the Constitution of Kenya.

While delivering their ruling, Judges Teresia Matheka, Rayola Olei, and Robert Limo declared that the ongoing failure by the national and county governments' to allocate 30 per cent of their budgets for development was unlawful.

This was after a petition filed by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) in 2024 where they sued the two levels of government over spending less than ten per cent of their budgets on development.

In their petition, KHRC told the court that failing to allocate the required 30 per cent undermined development, violating Kenyans' social, economic, and cultural rights.