Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi says Kenya will establish a professionally run company to manage the new National Infrastructure Fund — a move he believes will finally cut through government bureaucracy and attract much-needed private investment into major projects.
Speaking in an interview on Spice FM on Wednesday, the CS said the company, which will be created under the Government-Owned Enterprises Act, will take charge of delivering commercially viable roads, dams, and energy projects, while ministries focus on policy and non-commercial work.
Mbadi said the shift is crucial because investors like pension funds and insurers want efficiency and predictable returns, not delays.
“Government is not in the business of doing business. It should simply facilitate,” he said, adding that slow processes have stalled development for years.
The new structure will allow the company to design, cost, fund, and execute viable projects, with government only providing seed capital before private players come in.
President William Ruto on Tuesday announced that the long-awaited National Infrastructure Fund will be unveiled this week, marking what he described as a major step toward mobilising sustainable financing for Kenya’s development agenda.
Speaking during the launch of the Tsavo West Rhino Sanctuary in Ngulia, Taita Taveta County, the head of state said the fund is structured to attract significant private-sector participation—up to six times more than the government’s initial input.
“For a long time, we have had many plans, but we have not had the ability to actualise them because we lacked a strategy to secure the required financing. But now we have a new framework to fund our plans,” the President said.
Mbadi also defended the proposal to sell a 15 percent stake in Safaricom to Vodacom to help raise seed capital for the Fund.
Rejecting claims of undervaluation, Mbadi noted the proposed price is above the recent market average and would bring in foreign currency to boost Kenya’s reserves.
He stressed that the sale is still only a proposal and urged Kenyans to participate in the ongoing public consultation led by Parliament.
On pending bills, the CS said the government has verified and reduced payable amounts to about Sh250 billion, with over Sh80 billion already settled through road-sector securitisation.
He noted that banks are now seeing fewer bad loans and lending rates are easing, signs that the economy is beginning to stabilise.
Mbadi said the new funding model is essential if Kenya is to build the infrastructure needed to unlock economic growth. “We must adopt modern ways of financing if we want this economy to take off,” he said.
