- Donald Trump has cancelled the $60 million (about KSh 7.7 billion) MCC funding agreement that Kenya secured under former US President Joe Biden
- The cancelled programme had pledged KSh 5.8 billion from the US and KSh 1.56 billion from Kenya to modernise Nairobi’s transport system
- The termination will derail plans to ease Nairobi’s severe traffic congestion and slow progress on the city’s five BRT lines
Elijah Ntongai, an editor at TUKO.co.ke, has over four years of financial, business, and technology research and reporting experience, providing insights into Kenyan, African, and global trends.
President Donald Trump has cancelled the $60 million (about KSh 7.7 billion) funding agreement that Kenya secured under former US President Joe Biden.
Source: UGC
During President William Ruto’s visit to the US, the Kenyan government secured funding to support Nairobi’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
The cancellation of the funding has thrown the country’s long-stalled mobility project into renewed uncertainty.
According to a report by the Business Daily, Kenyan Treasury documents confirmed that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Programme is being formally terminated, and Nairobi has already received official notification from Washington.
“The newly launched MCC-Kenya threshold programme, led in partnership with the Kenya Millennium Development Fund (KMDF), is MCC’s largest and most ambitious threshold programme to date. The $60 million programme will address transportation needs for pedestrians, advance safer transportation options for women, improve land use for investors, and catalyze financing for climate-friendly bus transit,” MCC had described the programme in May 2024.
MCC intended funding in Kenya
The programme was scheduled to run until 2027 and intended to fund major reforms in transport and land-use planning.
It was signed in September 2023 during President William Ruto’s visit to New York and activated in May 2024 after his White House meeting with Biden.
The MCC was one of the centrepieces of Kenya–US cooperation during the Biden era.
It had pledged KSh 5.8 billion in American support and a Kenyan contribution of KSh 1.56 billion to modernise Nairobi’s transport system, expand pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, promote inclusive mobility, and help procure climate-friendly buses for the BRT network.
“This program aims to benefit all 4.3 million residents who call the Nairobi metropolitan area home. This threshold program is about delivering real results and unlocking greater opportunities for the people of Kenya,” MCC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alice Albright said in the presence of Ruto, during the programmes launch in May 2024.
Those plans have now been upended, derailing expectations that the BRT investment would ease chronic congestion and overhaul the capital’s ageing matatu-dominated transport sector.
Source: Twitter
Why Nairobi has lost expected gains
Nairobi has been engulfed by traffic congestion, and the cancellation of the programme dims hopes of a near-term solution to the ever-growing crisis in the city.
Already, funding shortages have slowed contractor payments and hampered progress across Nairobi’s five-line BRT network.
Collectively, the five BRT lines were expected to deliver modern stations, footbridges, CCTV enforcement systems, EV-charging depots, and a fully integrated rapid transit network.
But without the MCC funds, Kenya now faces a widening financing gap that threatens project timelines and undermines Nairobi’s long-term urban mobility goals.
The government will now be forced to pursue alternative funding sources to salvage the BRT project or risk watching Nairobi’s most ambitious public transport reform stall indefinitely.
Who else is funding Nairobi’s BRT?
In December 2024, Nairobi county governor Johnson Sakaja announced that the city had secured KSh 40 billion (€320 million) in financing for the construction of the Clean Core Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Line 3.
He said the funding would come from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD), and the European Union (EU).
The first phase of the 12-kilometre line will run from Dandora to Kenyatta National Hospital via Juja Road, while the second phase will connect Tala to Dandora and KNH to Ngong, forming a key part of Nairobi’s urban mobility plan.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
