‘We must do things differently,’ Ruto says as Sh5 trillion plan rolls out

President William Ruto has defended the government’s development agenda, saying the administration is implementing a Sh5 trillion programme aimed at accelerating economic transformation and breaking from what he described as decades of slow progress.

Speaking on Thursday, the President said Kenya could not afford to continue operating in the same manner it had over the past 60 years if it hoped to achieve meaningful growth and development.

“We are rolling out a Sh5 trillion programme. If we continue at the rate at which we have in the last 60 years, Kenya will lag behind. We must do things differently,” Ruto said.

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He argued that repeating old approaches had limited the country’s progress and called for bold and deliberate reforms to change Kenya’s development trajectory.

“It is said madness is doing the same thing year after year and expecting different results. We are not mad people. We know what we want to do,” the President added.

Ruto said the government’s strategy was anchored on clear priorities and a willingness to depart from past practices, insisting that sustained change would only come through new methods and decisive action.

“We cannot continue doing things the same way and Kenya will change,” he said.

The President’s remarks come amid ongoing debate over the scale and impact of government programmes, with the administration maintaining that its policies are designed to drive long-term growth and improve the livelihoods of Kenyans.

This comes a few days after the Cabinet approved the establishment of the National Infrastructure Fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, kicking off an ambitious Sh5 trillion long-term development and economic transformation agenda.

The two funds will serve as the backbone of the government’s plan to transition Kenya into a first-world economy through a sustainable, investment-led growth model that reduces overreliance on borrowing and taxation.

Approved as a limited liability company, the National Infrastructure Fund will act as the central vehicle for aligning public financial resources with national development priorities.

The fund is expected to play a critical role in mobilising domestic capital, monetising mature public assets and crowding in private sector investment for large-scale infrastructure projects.

Through innovative resource mobilisation, strategic asset monetisation, democratisation of ownership via capital markets and the deployment of national savings, the government aims to unlock long-term private capital to finance priority investments.

This approach is designed to shift infrastructure financing away from debt-heavy models toward partnerships that preserve public value while accelerating delivery.

Under the new framework, all proceeds from privatisation will be ring-fenced and invested exclusively in public infrastructure projects that generate and preserve long-term economic value.

State House said this move will ensure that the sale of public assets translates directly into productive investments that benefit current and future generations.

“Every shilling invested through the Fund is expected to crowd in up to Sh10 additional shillings from long-term investors, including pension funds, sovereign partners, private equity funds and development finance institutions,” the Cabinet dispatch stated.