President William Ruto and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, on Saturday, defended the Kenya Kwanza administration, denying allegations of broken promises and outlining what they claimed to be 20 accomplishments during their eight months in power.
In a list Mr. Gachagua read out and State House swiftly distributed, the government asserted that it had done its best and deserved praise.
Dr. Ruto and Mr. Gachagua continued to claim that former president Uhuru Kenyatta‘s endorsement of opposition leader Raila Odinga in the August 2022 presidential election was due to media support. They accused journalists of prejudice.
“My deputy Rigathi says the truth, but it is like playing the guitar to a goat. Those he talks to never hear. They are writing all these bad things about us because their candidate lost,” the President said.
“We forgive them, but they should stop being angry. The election is over. Your candidate might win in the future, maybe in 2037. Stop the chaos. We want to unite the people. And I give you my commitment: We will work together, respect everybody, and unite the people.”
What Deputy Governor, Rigathi Gachagua, Said
At a celebration of Roads, Principal Secretary Joseph Mbugua’s accomplishments in Nyandarua County, the DP said, “I will present the 20 achievements of the President so that you can carry them in tomorrow’s headline if you are courageous enough.”
“President Ruto has maintained more than 50% of the campaign-related promises he made. He has four years, four months left to fulfill the pledges.
Using the analogy of a church choir, which “is not an interruption of the speech, but a crucial component of it,” Dr. Ruto welcomed discussion of his accomplishments.
According to him, Sh29 billion in loans from the Hustler Fund and Sh1.5 billion in savings by 16 million Kenyans have already been made.
Dr. Ruto stated that the Fund receives repeat business from seven million Kenyans.
According to Mr. Gachagua, who claimed that former President Uhuru Kenyatta had obstructed the hiring of the judges, the President appointed six judges for the Court of Appeals.
According to the DP, the government has raised the judiciary’s financing by Sh4 billion.
As per Mr. Gachagua, the appointment of an independent accounting officer, who is not a member of the Office of the President, by the Kenya Kwanza government was “a huge achievement” in order to grant the National Police Service financial independence.
In order to promote food security, he lauded the subsidised fertiliser programme, noting that more than five million farmers nationwide registered.
The Mombasa port’s operations were also included in the list.
As the port operations had been relocated from Naivasha in Nakuru County to Mombasa, Mr. Gachagua described it as a major accomplishment.
A new economic zone has been established in Naivasha, he continued, and other ones are also being developed in the counties of Busia, Kirinyaga, Uasin Gishu, and Mombasa.
Based on the DP, Kenya Kwanza made history by hiring 30,000 instructors for public schools, the biggest number ever.
He said that President Ruto’s pet project, the Housing Fund, will guarantee that thousands of Kenyans have access to adequate housing.
As stated by Mr. Gachagua, 36,000 apartments are now being built, and 41 of 47 counties have donated 4,000 acres for more.
However, some of the “achievements” in the list that the Deputy President read are legislative proposals still pending in Parliament, such as the Finance Bill 2023.
It has those programmes that have been implemented – like the removal of subsidies and the government-to-government oil agreements – whose effects have not yet been fully felt by ordinary Kenyans.
Mr Gachagua said a 2kg packet of maize flour was retailing at Sh230 in September last year, adding that the price “has reduced to between Sh155 and Sh185 in many shops and supermarkets”.
He said importing goods through the Kenya National Trading Corporation has helped stabilise prices for basic goods.
However, only 20 percent of Kenyans consume processed unga, with the rest being first-hand producers.
Earlier, President Ruto was in Kiambu County where he was urged to ensure a return of the Mwai Kibaki economic moment of 2002 to 2013 “in order to silence the hard-economic-times noise that is growing loud daily”.
The President was the honored guest at the centennial celebrations of Limuru Girls High School, where Kiambu Woman Representative Anne wa Muratha stated that the nation requires a rebirth on the economic front.
“We would love to see you as our President for the next 10 years if only you can help us tackle the noise of the tough economic times,” she said.
Ms Muratha said she hopes what the Ruto presidency is undergoing is similar to what Kibaki encountered when he was sworn into office in January 2003.
“It is like the way we made noise during the first days of Kibaki’s presidency when his government was said to have no direction. Ten years later, we were asking him to remain as president and continue with the good work.”
Kibaki, the country’s third president, came up with the Vision 2030 blueprint.
According to the plan, Kenya should be a middle-income economy by 2030. The country’s GDP greatly improved during the Kibaki era.
Kibaki’s Administration
Kibaki also improved the internal system of generating revenue to finance the national budget.
Tax collection had increased threefold by the time he was leaving office in 2013.
The Kibaki administration sought bilateral and multilateral pacts that saw increased export markets and battled market distortions and imperfections.
National Assembly Majority Leader, Kimani Ichung’wa, said President Ruto is laying the foundation of Kenya to regain the Kibaki memories.
“That first step is the Finance Bill, 2023, which is not as bad as it is being portrayed,” Mr Ichung’wa said.
“It is only being discussed in a distorted manner but the good side has been ignored.”
He said the President ensured the price of maize flour has gone down “from the Sh230 he found when he took the oath of office on September 13 last year”.
“The Finance Bill, 2023, is bringing in the six percent Housing Fund to be recovered 50-50 from the worker and employer. It is a form of payback to the society,” he said.
“Privileged people like us should support the less fortunate to live in decent houses and get work.”
President Ruto, said his government would hire 35,000 more teachers and increase the technical trainers budget from Sh5.2 billion to Sh10 billion.
He said the Housing Fund should be implemented.
He baptised the levy “mandatory patriotism”, saying the employed would help jobless people earn a living.
“We plan to build 200,000 houses every year. Those houses will create jobs for at least one to two million young people. I don’t see the reason anyone who is privileged with a job will have problems contributing to a national scheme to help the less fortunate,” he said during a TV interview on Sunday.
It is a position Mr Gachagua echoed in Nyeri County on Friday.
Mr Ichung’wa said the Finance Bill is bottom-up-oriented “since it seeks to tax more those earning Sh500,000 and above per month”.
“They are only required to give us an additional five percent as Pay As You Earn. It is targeting the privileged to support those at the bottom of the pyramid. Not every Kenyan earns that kind of money,” he said.
Dr Ruto told contractors tasked with delivering government projects not to be “cheeky”.
“In me, you have a person to whip you into transparency and accountability,” he said.
Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi said Dr Ruto “will turn out to be the best president Kenya has ever had”.
“Kenyans will come to realise that we did not gamble. We know you as a worker who delivers. There are those peddling stories about your suitability,” Governor Wamatangi said.
“You are our man and will never be short of loyal and good people in your government.”
He added that Kenya still remembers President Ruto’s days as a Cabinet Secretary.
He said Dr Ruto would “outshine Kibaki and all we require is patience and patriotism”.
“Even the Kibaki moment did not come like instant coffee,” the Kiambu county leader said.