On March 25, 2026, President William Ruto stood before delegates at the International Conference on Nuclear Energy in Nairobi and made an announcement that will define his presidency. Kenya, he declared, would break ground on its first nuclear power plant in Siaya County in March 2027. The project would generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity by 2034 and cost an estimated Ksh 500 billion — roughly $3.8 billion.
It was a bold, historic statement. But in the days that followed, one question cut through the applause louder than all others: Who is actually going to pay for this?
That is not a cynical question. It is the most important question any Kenyan citizen can ask right now. Because Ksh 500 billion is not an abstract figure. At current exchange rates, it is roughly twice Kenya’s entire annual development budget. It is more than the combined budgets of the Ministries of Health, Education, and Infrastructure for a full year. When the government commits to a project of this scale, every taxpayer in this country has skin in the game — whether they know it or not.
The Official Answer: A Blended Financing Model for Nuclear Energy
To their credit, the government has not simply said: “we will borrow the money.” At ICoNE 2026, the Directorate of Public Private Partnerships Director General, Engineer Kefa Seda, unveiled what the government calls a blended financing model.
The structure, as described by Seda, will draw capital from four main sources: Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) such as the African Development Bank; Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) from whichever country supplies the reactor technology; climate financing mechanisms including green bonds and carbon finance; and private investors attracted through a formal Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework.
Also Read: Will Nuclear Power Actually Lower KPLC Bills for Kenyans to Enjoy Cheaper Tokens?
The PPP element is particularly significant. Under Kenya’s Public-Private Partnerships Act of 2021, the government can invite private entities to design, finance, build, operate, and eventually transfer a facility back to the state — what is known internationally as the BOOT model (Build, Own, Operate, Transfer). This is the same structure used to develop major roads and water infrastructure globally.
In theory, it is an elegant solution. The government does not have to borrow the full Ksh 500 billion itself. Private capital absorbs a share of the financial risk, and repayment is structured over the plant’s operational lifetime — which President Ruto has confirmed will span 60 to 80 years.
The Vendor Question: Whoever Builds It, Finances It
Here is where it gets geopolitical. Nuclear power plants are not built by neutral contractors. They are built by nations — and the nation that builds Kenya’s reactor will almost certainly also finance a significant portion of it.
This is how the global nuclear market works. Russia’s state-owned corporation Rosatom, which is currently building Egypt’s El Dabaa plant, typically offers sovereign loans at concessional rates as part of its package. South Korea’s KEPCO and its reactor subsidiary KHNP work closely with the Korean Export-Import Bank and K-SURE, the national export credit agency, to offer financing to client nations. The United States, through Westinghouse and the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM), is aggressively competing in the African market under the government’s “Atoms for the World” strategy. France’s EDF similarly mobilizes French state financing through BPIFRANCE and Société Générale.
The bottom line: the financing arrangement for Kenya’s plant is inseparable from the vendor selection. This is why Kenya’s Request for Proposal (RFP), expected by late 2026, is not merely a technical procurement — it is a major diplomatic and financial negotiation.
As of this writing, the United States, South Korea’s KHNP, and Russia’s Rosatom have all responded to Kenya’s Request for Information (RFI) issued in July 2025. Each is competing not just to sell a reactor, but to establish a long-term economic and geopolitical foothold in East Africa.
What Does This Mean for Kenyan Taxpayers?
Let us be precise about what “blended financing” means in practice.
Even under the most favourable PPP structure, the Kenyan government will be required to provide guarantees. That is standard practice. No private investor or development finance institution will commit billions of dollars to a nuclear project in a developing country without the host government guaranteeing minimum revenue—typically through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that obligates KPLC to buy the plant’s electricity at an agreed price for 20 to 30 years.
Those guarantees are government obligations. If the plant underperforms, is delayed, or the power purchase agreements are poorly structured, the contingent liability falls to the taxpayer.
Also Read: Can Siaya Nuclear Plant Solve Kenya’s Growing Energy Crisis?
Kenya has been here before. The Standard Gauge Railway was also described as a PPP at various stages. The Adani deals for JKIA expansion and KETRACO power lines — both canceled in 2024 amid public outcry — were structured as private investments. The nuclear plant’s financing architecture must be more transparent, more accountable, and more rigorously scrutinised by Parliament than any infrastructure deal Kenya has attempted before.
The Conversation Kenya Must Have
Kenya needs Ksh 500 billion worth of answers before the first shovel breaks ground. Specifically:
What share of the financing will come from government borrowing, and how will it be classified on the national debt ledger? Which DFIs and ECAs have formally expressed interest, and on what terms? What will the Power Purchase Agreement price be — and will it be publicly disclosed? Who will bear the cost overrun risk if construction runs over budget, as nuclear projects globally routinely do?
The government has presented the high-level financing framework. The next step — and the democratic obligation — is to present it to Parliament and the Kenyan public in granular detail.
This is too large an investment, and too consequential a commitment, for Kenyans to simply trust that it will work out. We have earned the right to read the numbers.
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