By Anderson Ojwang
Kisii Governor Simba Arati has challenged President William Ruto to concentrate on fixing the nation and instead ignore the debate on elections.
Arati said there was bitterness among Kenyans, and it was important that President fix the nation and that if he fails to do so nobody will be able do it.
“Your Excellency if you can’t change the nation, nobody can fix it. We don’t care about two terms; can you fix it. We thank you Raila Odinga for joining you to stabilize the county,” he said.
Ruto in his response said he took the first step by stabilizing the country by bringing on board Raila and former president Uhuru Kenyatta and the country is currently witnessing peace.
“For once, let us talk and plan how to make Kenya a better nation. Let politics take a backstage. Let us have a different conversation. We cannot continue having same conversation every year about politics.” he said.
Fixing the economy
Ruto said situation the country was in 2022 is different with the current one with inflation rate coming down from 9.6 percent to 4.5 percent.
He said foreign exchange reserve has grown from $5.7 billion to $11.8 billion, the highest in the history of Kenya while the exchange rate that was Sh 165 has now stabilized at Sh 129 for the last one and half years to the dollar.
“Kenya is the only of the six countries that did not default in loan repayment. All the five defaulted. And if you follow economics, two months ago IMF reported that Kenya is now the sixth largest economy in Africa.
It was necessary and people may have thought it was difficult but it necessary to make certain decisions to stabilize the economy of our country.
I can now confidently tell you that we can now plan the future a lot more certainty because we are in charge of the economic situation of our country.” he said
He said the base of the economy was stable and this now allows the country to get into various projects.
Tackling Agriculture
Ruto said in 2022, Kenya witnessed Unga protest because of the high cost of living because the sector was doing poorly.
He said his administration took austerity measures such as proper management of the sector including registration of all farmers.
He said previously the country did not have a data base of farmers, and after registration the country have 6.5m farmers.
Ruto said his administration has brought down the cost of fertilizers from sh 7000 to Sh 2500, removed cartels and brokers in the agricultural sector.
“The cartels ran the show in the agricultural sector, but we sorted out the problem by introducing new licensing system. Cartels and brokers were rampant in coffee and sugar sectors, and I am happy we weeded them out,” he said.
Restoring Education
President Ruto said the government has built 23,000 news classrooms and currently was building 1,600 laboratories in rural schools.
He said the government has sorted out CBC and teachers recruitment by hiring additional teachers and only remains with a gap of 20,000 more teachers to be employed to close the gap.
“We have sorted the funding program for higher education, which was a big problem. That is why universities were struggling; Egerton university was paying half salaries.
Today, I can confidently tell you, go and talk to any vice chancellors in any of the universities, they will tell you, the new funding model has put more money in the universities.
In our budget this year, we have moved from Sh 45B funding to the universities in 2022 to this year Sh 82B in this year’s budget.” he said.
Affordable housing
Ruto said the largest housing development in any town in Kenya today is affordable housing.
He said affordable housing projects have created employment opportunities to 320,000 people and by this year December the figure shall have grown to 600,000.
Health
Ruto said his administration would not pay for fraudulent claims by hospital saying that is what contributed to the collapse of NHIF.
“We have put a digital system and in all Level 5 and 6 hospitals they have introduced biometrics to sort out the health.
The truth of the matter is that the hospitals have never received reimbursement from NHIF in the same amount they are getting from SHA. That is the truth. As we talk today, we have paid our hospitals about Sh 58B and we have two months to reach SHA anniversary.
NHIF every year used to pay between SH20-25B, and we are going to pay double what it used to pay. It is only that we no longer paying for fraudulent claims,” he said.
Raila said Kenya has a great potential to become an economic tiger and it must reclaim the economic status.
He said it was important to commit to ensure the country’s grow for the benefit of the nation.
Goodies to Omugusi community
Ruto said the government was rolling out large-scale development projects in the two counties.
“In Kisii, we are rolling out transformative investments: 15,000 affordable housing units worth Ksh30 billion, Ksh2.5 billion in modern tertiary student hostels, and four state-of-the-art markets valued at Ksh2.4 billion,” he wrote.
“In Nyamira, we are driving equally bold change through life-changing projects worth over Ksh16 billion: 7,000 housing units, student hostels, and three modern markets that will anchor trade and economic growth.”
“Over 32,000 homesteads across Kisii and Nyamira will also be connected to reliable electricity, unlocking commerce, enabling industries, and giving our people the tools to thrive.”
Arati said as the spokesperson of the community it was it important that community worked with the government for development.
“I will be asked that Raila and ODM were in broad based government and what did you bring to us in terms of development. This is why we are here today as community to stake our claim,” he said.
