President William Ruto has urged Kenyans to persevere as he embarks on transforming the country as he stated in his Kenya Kwanza manifesto.
Ruto was speaking during a joint interview from statehouse Nairobi when he assured Kenyans that things will be better
Ruto claimed that he has every intention of keeping the economy running until things change despite it being faced by a myriad of challenges including the spiralling cost of living.
The president said that he is aware that many Kenyans are financially constrained and he has no control over factors that exacerbate the cost of living experienced in the country.
We live in a global economy the price of fuel is not controlled by the Kenyan government.it is controlled by the producers. Ruto said that he made a promise in the context of where we are and if things remained the same he would have fulfilled his promises of stabilizing the dollar.
If all factors remained constant the Kenya Kwanza government would have fully delivered on it’s promises to the able citizens, especially to tame the cost of living and creating job opportunities for the youths.
Ruto clearly stated that for the time being Kenyans will have to wait for a while for the dollar to shillings to get better. He further explained that we live in a global and the price of fuel is not determined by the government but by external factors.
The price of fuel was same as the neighbouring countries because we as a country buy fuel from the same producers.Ruto claimed that while he had reduced the road and rail development levy and other taxes the price of fuel was initially set by other global changes affecting many countries.
Ruto said that the government has reduced the levy on imports of products and can be manufactured in the country and is concentrating on exports. His government is importing sh 500 billion worth of food items ranging from cooking oil maize rice and othe necessities.
According Ruto him Kenyans have not paid enough attention to agriculture resulting in the sky rocketing cost of living. Besides his regime’s interventions the president admitted that there is no money in Kenyans pockets.
The government has spent an extra sh 120 billion on education and was putting more money into the health sector. Ruto’s government has recruited 56000 teachers and probably by the end of next year we will have an additional 250000 Kenyans working.
On the spiralling cost of living and skyrocketing dollar Ruto said that the issue of exchange rate is a factor of many aspects.Ruto said that he came in to office when there was a serious situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,the big war in Europe and a huge drought in many parts of the country caused by climate change. All these factors combined created a global situation that increased the prices of commodities we import as a country.
Ruto admitted to being the most travelled president , he said “would you rather sit in Nairobi and watch Kenya burn or go to America? Would you rather I don’t travel and go to South Korea to sort out the problems of electricity and power transmission? I can account for every shilling I have spent on my travels”
Ruto also talked about the “mambo ni matatu” statement during a tour in western Kenya, it was a figurative statement to send a stern warning to the people involved that it was not going to be business as usual.
Kenyans who are unable to pay for their health insurance under the new SHIF will have their contributions paid by the government and approximated the number to be about 2 million Kenyan citizens.Ruto also stated that the Kenyan government intends to take the companies that defrauded the NHIF to court and face the law.
