By Eddah Waithaka
The United Alternative Government coalition has vehemently opposed the proposed National Infrastructure Fund Bill, 2026, warning that the plan undermines public finance accountability and weakens parliamentary oversight.
Speaking during a media briefing on Thursday, Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka declared that Kenya’s infrastructure challenges stem from governance failures rather than a lack of financing mechanisms.
“Kenya’s infrastructure deficit is not a product of institutional scarcity. It is a product of execution failure, procurement corruption, and fiscal opacity,” Kalonzo said.
“Adding a new fund to broken systems adds another layer of dysfunction with reduced oversight.”
The coalition revealed that Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi swore in a court affidavit that the Sh5 trillion infrastructure vehicle is a private company, contradicting his previous assurances to Parliament that it was a public fund subject to constitutional oversight.
“A Cabinet Secretary who assures Parliament of a Sh5 trillion vehicle’s constitutional status, then swears under oath to its private, unincorporated nature, has not made a technical error,” Kalonzo asserted.
“He has misled the legislature on a matter of the highest fiscal and constitutional consequence.”
Safaricom stake sale under fireAccording to the coalition, the proposed partial divestiture of the government’s shareholding in Safaricom PLC would reduce state ownership in a company that underpins M-PESA, eCitizen, Huduma Namba, and other critical government systems.
“Safaricom is not simply a telecommunications company,” said DAP-Kenya party leader Eugene Wamalwa. “It is a national infrastructure utility, the backbone of Kenya’s digital payments architecture and host of critical government service delivery channels.”
The opposition also criticized the recent initial public offering of Kenya Pipeline Company, describing it as overvalued.
The IPO involved advisors selected without competitive process and failed to attract meaningful retail investor participation, raising doubts about government capacity to conduct major asset sales.
“The KPC IPO stands as one of the most instructive object lessons in how not to conduct a government asset divestiture,” said DCP party leader Rigathi Gachagua.
Parliament urged to reject billsLawmakers called on Parliament to reject the National Infrastructure Fund Bill and withdraw Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2025 on the proposed Safaricom stake sale.
They urged legislators to prioritize stronger oversight of public funds, require full publication of all transaction terms, and ensure public participation before any strategic state assets face divestiture.
The opposition demanded that Parliament summon Treasury CS John Mbadi to explain alleged contradictions regarding the proposed National Infrastructure Fund.
Mbadi’s affidavit contradicts parliamentary assurancesKalonzo accused Mbadi of allegedly misleading MPs about the legal and constitutional status of the Ksh5 trillion Fund.
Statements Mbadi made to parliamentary committees contradicted information contained in an affidavit he submitted in court, the opposition claimed.”
These concerns on NIF are directly confirmed by the conduct of John Mbadi, in an affidavit, consistently presenting the Fund to parliamentary committees as a public fund subject to parliamentary oversight,” Kalonzo said.
The opposition leaders argued that while the fund appeared before legislators as a public fund, Mbadi’s affidavit revealed something entirely different.
According to Kalonzo, the affidavit indicated that the National Infrastructure Fund was not a constitutional public fund but rather a limited liability company.
Kalonzo said it was even more concerning that the entity had not been formally incorporated at the time the Cabinet Secretary was making representations to Parliament regarding its status.
“This court affidavit revealed a whole contradictory reality,” he added. “The entity is not a Fund within the meaning of Article 206 at all, but a limited liability company that had not even been incorporated when these assurances were being given to MPs.”
The opposition leaders described Mbadi’s contradiction as a serious constitutional issue, given the scale of the proposed Fund.
Kalonzo noted that the issue went beyond a technical misunderstanding, arguing that misleading Parliament on such a major financial matter undermined public accountability.
