The Controller of Budget declaring that she cannot see certain funds and levies because they sit outside the Consolidated Fund is a constitutional red flag. Article 206(1) of the Constitution establishes the Consolidated Fund as the central account into which all money raised or received by or on behalf of the national government must be paid, save for narrowly defined exceptions that an Act of Parliament must expressly authorise. By constitutional design, public money must be traceable and accountable. Anything less erodes the rule of law and weakens the foundations of public finance that the 2010 Constitution sought to entrench. Legally, the National Treasury administers the Consolidated Fund, and the Controller of Budget must approve any withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund and other public funds under Article 206(4) and Article 228(5). The Constitution prohibits withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund unless the Controller has approved it and the withdrawal is in accordance with appropriation or other constitutional authority. When revenues are channelled into vehicles that do not pass through this framework, the Controller loses visibility and Parliament loses leverage. The Controller’s own warning in the Sovereign Wealth Fund debate, that a fund which does not first credit proceeds into the Consolidated Fund and is not subject to her prior approval risks operating as a parallel financial architecture outside the national budget framework, captures the main problem which is governance by discretion rather than by law. The Controller of Budget’s National Government Budget Implementation Review Report for FY 2025/26 (July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026) records total travel expenditure of KSh 30.69 billion, comprising KSh 21.98 billion on domestic travel and KSh 8.71 billion on foreign travel. State House was the top spender on travel at KSh 2.5 billion (KSh 2.4 billion domestic, KSh 159 million foreign), followed by the State Department for Internal Security and National Administration (KSh 1.4 billion), the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services (KSh 1.1 billion), and the Office of the Deputy President (KSh 655 million). Such figures are troubling not just for their size but because they occur in a context where oversight is described as blind for certain funds and levies thus rendering promises of austerity difficult to enforce. The Constitution does not entertain secret budgets. Every shilling raised from citizens must flow through proper channels with clear oversight by Parliament and independent offices such as the Controller of Budget and the Auditor-General. If money bypasses the Treasury, it bypasses the people’s control. That is poor administration and a departure from the constitutional order. The remedy is to route all revenue through the Consolidated Fund, publish full and timely accounts and empower auditors and Parliament to follow every shilling with enforceable rules on withdrawals and appropriations.