President Ruto: Promises To Deliver Within 100 Days

President-elect William Ruto has said his first assignment after being sworn in on Tuesday will be to put in place measures that will help reduce the cost of living.

Speaking at a thanksgiving service in Maua Stadium, Meru County, Ruto promised to review downwards the prices of Unga and fertilizer next week after he is sworn in offi ce as part of measures aimed at boosting
the agricultural sector.
The last subsidy on maize meal worth Ksh 8 billion given to millers has already been exhausted with a 2kg pack of unga now back to Ksh 210 from Ksh 100 weeks ago.

With William Ruto set to be sworn in as Kenya’s 5th President on September 13, all eyes will be on him and his administration to deliver on the United Democratic Alliance
(UDA) manifesto.

In particular, he had promised to implement a raft of policies and projects within his fi rst 100 days in office.
The priority areas were picked by the party based on the impact on five targets, namely bringing down the cost of living, eradicating hunger, creating jobs, expanding the tax revenue base and improving Kenya’s foreign exchange balance.

The second criterion is inclusive growth, which is the sectors and interventions that will have the biggest impact at the bottom of the income pyramid.

Ruto’s Promises To Kenyans Hustlers fund
Ruto promised the speedy establishment of the Ksh 50 billion Hustlers Fund. It will be a kitty off ering affordable fi nancing to SMEs in the country as an avenue for job creation.
This will also play into his administration’s plan to enact the rightto-work law making trading license and provision of a trading location an entitlement to every citizen who
applies. In addition, Ruto will work with county governments to provide one street trading premise per 50 urban residents, with a view to increasing the average daily income of informal traders by Ksh 200.
50pc of cabinet for women and implement two-thirds gender rule.

The President-elect committed to ensuring that 50 per cent of his Cabinet to women as well as implementing the problematic two thirds gender rule for appointive and elected officials. The said rule came into effect after the 2010 Constitution was promulgated.

United Democratic Alliance (UDA) in the latest nominations took the lion’s share of the slots. Of the list of 32 individuals, 16 are women. In the Senate, women were given all eight slots.

Funds to counties
He stated that counties would receive funds from the national government on time. He noted that this would help drive the implementation of the economic charters signed by UDA in the 47 counties. The charters highlight priority areas for development in each county.

Responsibilities for DP, Prime CS
Ruto promised to allocate his Deputy President (Rigathi Gachagua) and proposed Prime Cabinet Secretary (Musalia Mudavadi) specific portfolios and responsibilities. He
explained that this would avert a situation similar to where in the second term of President Uhuru Kenyatta was sidelined as DP.

Action on corruption
The President-elect stated that his administration would within the first 100 days halt the investigation of cases he claims are selective and politically instigated to settle scores.

Appoint judges rejected by former Head of State
Ruto stated that he would appoint the six nominated judges that President Uhuru Kenyatta rejected, leading to conflicts with Chief Justice Martha Koome and her predecessor David Maraga.

Regressive taxation, bureaucracy and regulatory compliance costs
Ruto stated that his government will review and rationalize all business licenses, cap total licences at 1.5 percent of turnover, and enact administrative burden law (similar to the US Reduction of Paper Work Act) ensuring no business spends more than 4 person-hours a month on tax and regulatory compliance

Lower cost of living
Ruto promised that his administration would take measures to quickly lower the cost of living within 100 days – including agricultural subsidy programmes and investment in agro-processing. He further maintained that investment in agriculture was the only way to lower the cost of living.

Return port operations to Mombasa
Ruto stated that port operations moved to Naivasha would immediately be shifted back to Mombasa once he assumed office.

Sports Commitment
Kenya Kwanza is committed to establishing a high-level expert task force to identify sustainable sources of sports funding, establish and resource adequately a dedicated function within the tourism promotion function to attract international sporting events, and leverage our international athletics brand to develop a domestic sports apparel manufacturing cluster.

In addition, the regime will expand the National Youth Talent Academy
(NYTA), promote county leagues and inter-county sports championships and establish a sporting hero benevolent fund. He however signalled that Kenya will accumulate more debts in the short term to meet her economic obligations despite the debt of Ksh 9trillion, saying when he asked economists whether there was an alternative, they replied in the negative.
“When you find yourself in a hole the logical thing is to stop digging so I asked them whether we could stop. They told me we have to continue digging but I assure Kenyans that we will get out of it,” he said.