Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has lauded President William Ruto for his dedicated efforts to revive Kenya’s economy, which he described as being in a “bad shape” when he took charge of the leadership of the country.
He insists that mentioning the poor state of the economy was merely a factual observation and not an attempt to undermine the administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“When President William Ruto was elected in 2022, the economy of Kenya was in very bad shape. Many people think when we say the economy was bad, we are trying to attack the previous administration. This is not true,” he stated.
“The economy, when Kenya Kwanza took over, was doing badly because, for a year and a half, the entire country and its economic activities were shut down due to COVID-19. That is what destroyed our economy.” He explained
Due to the impact of COVID-19, Kindiki noted that nearly all activities in the country came to a standstill, causing significant disruptions in the economy. He says this was the burden Ruto’s administration had to shoulder.
“During COVID, we were confined to our homes for over a year and a half. There were no businesses operating; hotels were closed, transportation halted, and nobody was working, leading to a lack of productivity. By the time Ruto took over, a dollar was exchanging at Ksh. 165 and was losing value daily,” he elaborated.
“Food prices were rising every day. A two-kilogram packet of maize flour was Ksh 240, Ksh 250, Ksh 260. If food prices are high, that is a major political and economic crisis. That is why our friends in Azimio staged protests about the price of Unga,” Kindiki added.
Addressing a consultative meeting with Meru leaders on priority development projects and government programme implementation at his office in Karen, Nairobi, Kindiki highlighted several key initiatives and policies implemented by Ruto that have contributed to stabilizing the economy.
“For the last two years, President William Ruto has worked extremely hard to turn around the fundamentals of macroeconomic stability, in the sense that the broad economic variables that influenced the cost of living which was going haywire, are moderated today and they are under control,” he said
“Today, the shilling is exchanging at 128 to the dollar. The price of 2 kg of maize flour is between Ksh 110 and Ksh 120. The escalation of prices of essential commodities, which was at 9.6% monthly, is now at 3% and below. Interest rates have also decreased. All these interventions have not happened by guesswork but by hard work of President Ruto and his administration,” stated the Deputy President.
He urged Kenyans to recognize that the government had little room for manoeuvre and had to make difficult decisions to ensure the situation did not worsen. He believes the state of the economy will continue to improve, and Kenyans will soon feel the positive effects.
“We had to make painful choices. The revenue we collected was applied to stabilize food and fuel prices. Fuel prices had gone beyond Ksh.217 a liter. That is what has happened in the last two years – heavy-lifting, hard decisions. What remains for the remainder of the term is to build on that strong foundation, and roll out programs that will increase money in people’s pockets,” he said.
“It is very unlikely that fuel prices will rise again in the near future. Very unlikely. There may be small adjustments, but nothing to worry about,” affirmed Kindiki.
