Treasury orders Kenyan state agencies to dispose of idle assets by 31 December

Kenya's National Treasury has ordered public entities to identify and dispose of obsolete, idle and excess assets, with status reports due by 31 December 2026.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi gave the order in a circular to accounting officers and heads of public entities. The disposals must follow the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.

Each entity must report on the exercise to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), with a copy to the Treasury. Disposal plans are to be completed within the relevant financial year and not carried forward to later years.

The circular says keeping assets that are no longer in use leads to further deterioration, loss of value and higher storage and maintenance costs. It adds that such assets can create congestion, security concerns and accountability risks.

Mbadi also told public entities to investigate why assets become obsolete or surplus, and urged agencies to use digital platforms to track and report on their assets. The Treasury, working with the PPRA and other oversight institutions, will monitor compliance.

The Standard reported that the Treasury wants old vehicles, furniture and obsolete computer equipment held by public entities sold. The newspaper linked the order to the government's search for cash to service debt, after the sale of a stake in Kenya Pipeline Company and an attempt to sell part of its Safaricom stake.

The Star reported on 20 March 2026 that an earlier circular from Mbadi, dated 12 February, gave ministries and counties a 90-day ultimatum to identify, value and act on idle public assets, including land, buildings, railways, road reserves and government vehicles. Accounting officers were required to have the assets independently valued before commercialisation.