The United States Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has cancelled another contract to Kenya in its efforts to align government spending with the administration’s promises.
In a statement on Thursday, April 3, 2025, the Elon Musk-headed government department indicated that the Kenyan contract cancellation was part of 46 other contracts cancelled over wastefulness.
“Agencies cancelled 47 wasteful contracts today with $87.5M ceiling value and $30.2M in savings, including a $3.4M State Department management consulting contract for aviation advisors in Kenya,” the statement read.
This comes just a day after the department cancelled another consulting contract worth Ksh271 million for a senior advisor in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
” Agencies terminated 80 wasteful contracts today with a ceiling value of $203.6M and savings of $139.1M, including a $2.1M management consulting contract for a “senior advisor in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Doge said in a statement.
Further cuts
The development comes in the wake of a 90-day pause of all US-funded foreign aid for development projects by USAID, which has grounded at least 72 initiatives in the country.
US President Donald Trump indicated that the pause was necessary to conduct an audit of the programmes and ensure they align with America-first policy.
Among the continuing projects by the USAID are Tuberculosis Management and prevention, HIV/AIDS service delivery, child protection services and Dreams Initiative.
”The envisaged program is expected to continue covering diagnosis of TB, treatment of diagnosed patients, and prevention of transmission of TB, besides spearheading the introduction of new technologies and approaches and sustaining the gains made in,” a statement from the US states.
Some of the cancelled programmes are wildlife conservation, environmental management, electoral governance, social inclusion for persons with disabilities, digital health initiative, gender equality monitoring, literacy programmes, which run into billions of shillings and among others agriculture, water and sanitation and trade and private sector reforms.
Tariff imposed
The development comes hot on the heels of a trade tariff which the US has imposed on Kenya to the tune of 10 per cent tax on all exports to the US market.
Trump made it clear that the tariff will remain in place until Kenya scraps its 16 per cent Value-Added-Tax (VAT) on American goods arriving in the country.
In 2024, Kenyan exports to the US, which included tea, coffee and horticultural products, accounted for more than Ksh70 billion