President William Ruto has defended his administration’s record, saying it has made progress in delivering on its election promises in the economy, agriculture, healthcare, education and employment.
Speaking in Kapsoit, Kericho county, during a stopover on Friday, Ruto said his government should be judged against the manifesto and development plan it presented to Kenyans ahead of the 2022 election.
“I am ready to be held to account for the commitments I made to the people of Kenya,” the President said, challenging his political opponents to scrutinise the government’s manifesto and assess its performance against the promises it made.
On the economy, the head of state said his administration had stabilised the economy, lowered interest rates and inflation, and doubled the country’s foreign exchange reserves.
He also pointed to agriculture, saying reforms in the sector had improved earnings for farmers.
On healthcare, the President cited the replacement of the National Health Insurance Fund with the Social Health Authority, saying the new system had addressed delays that previously left patients waiting for months to access medical services.
“Today, SHA benefits and sends money to every facility in Kenya, from level one to level six,” he said, arguing that the new system had expanded access to healthcare across the country.
Ruto also defended his government’s record on education, saying it had streamlined the competency-based curriculum, improved teacher recruitment, changed the education funding model and expanded classroom capacity.
“We have streamlined CBC. We have streamlined teacher employment. We have hired more teachers. We have changed the funding model and made sure that there are enough classrooms,” he said.
On employment, the President said the government’s housing programme had created jobs for about 1.1 million young people through the construction of houses, hostels and markets.
He said the government’s labour export programme had also enabled about 680,000 young Kenyans to secure jobs abroad, while another 300,000 were engaged in digital work.
Ruto said the government was targeting between three million and four million jobs for young people over the next two to three years, saying this would allow them to contribute their skills and expertise to the country’s development.
“Our plan is to make sure that in the next two, three years, we have up to four million young people working in different spaces so that our young people can contribute their talent, their expertise and their knowledge in the transformation of our country,” he said.
Ruto said Kenyans would ultimately determine whether his administration had delivered on its promises.
“The people of Kenya will judge us on account of the commitments we made and on account of our delivery,” he said.
The President also challenged his rivals to present Kenyans with an alternative plan instead of focusing on criticism of his administration.
He said his government had a development agenda centred on economic recovery, agriculture, healthcare, education and job creation, and that voters should judge competing political camps on the programmes they offer.
Ruto was accompanied by Kericho Governor Erick Mutai, Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, MPs among other local leaders.
