Irungu Nyakera: Kenya Must Fund Its Own HIV Treatment—Not Rely on Donors

 

By Wasike Elvis 

Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant Irungu Nyakera has criticized the government’s continued dependence on foreign donors to fund HIV treatment, saying it undermines Kenya’s claim to be a middle-income country.

Nyakera, who is running on the Democratic Congress Party (DCP) ticket, noted that while Kenya often compares itself to developed economies such as Singapore, it still relies heavily on external funding to sustain life-saving HIV programs.

“PEPFAR alone gives Kenya about KES 43 billion every year for HIV care,” Nyakera said. “Yet, according to the Ministry of Health, we only need KES 33.9 billion to keep treatment running. That’s less than 1% of our KES 4.2 trillion national budget. Why are we still begging?”

He pointed out that State House spent KES 13.2 billion last year, much of it on domestic travel and printing expenses—nearly a third of the amount needed to make HIV treatment fully free for Kenyans.

“The rest of the money could easily come from cutting waste, theft, luxury, and bureaucracy,” he added. “We are not short of resources. We are short of priorities.”

Nyakera warned that if the government fails to take ownership of HIV funding, Kenya risks reversing the gains made over the past two decades.

“If we don’t fix HIV funding now, we risk sliding back to the 1990s—a time of fear, funerals, and lost generations,” he said. “Kenya doesn’t need another donor. Kenya needs political will.”