Cabinet retreat: Ruto tells team to focus on delivery

President William Ruto on Thursday reiterated that his administration’s focus is service delivery to Kenyans and not the 2027 elections. 

Speaking when he convened the first broad-based Cabinet retreat to evaluate performance, the President urged his team to concentrate on delivering the transformation agenda.

This is, however, the third such retreat since President Ruto took office in 2022. The three-day retreat comes at a critical juncture for the Kenya Kwanza administration, which faces mounting public pressure over human rights abuses.

Ruto reassured Kenyans of his administration's commitment to fully delivering on the promises made, despite concerns being raised by some critics.

“I am not focused on the next election but on delivering on the transformation of our country that I promised Kenyans,” he stated.

Admitting that the government’s reform agenda is ambitious, he remained confident of its achievement.

"This administration was elected on a platform of transformation, reforms, and doing things differently," he said.

"The accusation I often get is that we overpromised. But I want to tell you, we did not overpromise. We promised what is doable.”

He stated that all his priorities are documented in the manifesto and they intend to deliver every bit of it to "earn the correct marks" by the end of its term.

"I have no intention whatsoever of escaping the commitments we made. We intend to keep them because that is how we are going to transform Kenya," he added.

The meeting at KCB Leadership Centre, Nairobi, brought together Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and top parastatal chiefs in a high-stakes session.

Ruto also criticised the culture of political convenience that has delayed reforms, stating Kenya cannot afford to keep postponing the tough but necessary decisions.

He expressed satisfaction with the difficult decisions the government had made to turn around the country’s fortunes, saying they have been successful and are paying dividends.

The Head of State commended the government’s performance so far but pointed out that there was a need to do more to accelerate the delivery of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. “We are here to reflect on where we came from, where we are and agree on the future. We should know that failure is not an option,” President Ruto said.

He singled out reforms in health, housing, education, energy, and agriculture as timely, stating they have transformed the lives of citizens at the bottom of the economic pyramid. “I want you to be focused, courageous and work as a team in implementing our transformative agenda. Implementing transformation required to change Kenya is not easy, but it’s possible and doable if we do it together,” Ruto said.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said the government’s interventions in various sectors of the economy have started bearing fruit. “The bold, radical and strategic policy and administrative interventions in economy, education, health, housing, job creation and infrastructure development made by the Kenya Kwanza under the stewardship of President William Ruto are bearing fruit,” Kindiki stated. “We are making significant progress in the transformative journey of uplifting the wellbeing of our citizens.”

Instant Analysis

The retreat is the third meeting and midterm review of the National Executive and is meant to assess the progress of implementation of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and strategise on the task ahead. The agenda focuses on six strategic areas: lowering the cost of living, eliminating hunger, creating jobs, widening the tax base, improving foreign exchange balance, and promoting inclusive growth. These objectives are being implemented through targeted investments in five key sectors: agriculture, health, MSMEs, digital superhighway and creative economy, and housing.