On September 13, 2022, Kenyans witnessed the Kenya Kwanza administration’s euphoric entry to power.
The President, William Ruto, and his deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, took to the podium to take the solemn oath as the people at the helm of this country.
The inauguration was a huge show in terms of numbers, clout, and, above all, abundant promises and great expectations.
On the day itself, nothing was left to chance, as pomp, colour, and bravado were the hallmarks of the occasion. The Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, gave a retaliatory speech, while the incoming President offered a conciliatory speech wherein he commended his able competitors from the opposition who gave the process their all.
In his speech, however, he put out a plethora of promises, mostly which had been snippets given at random on the gruelling campaign trail.
Today, therefore, marks a watershed moment for the people of Kenya: to go back into history and revisit this momentous occasion during which many felt their salvation was nigh.
Indeed, President Ruto said he did not know whether that moment, their ascendency to power, was a constitutional or an economic moment.
It would be interesting to find out from Kenyans what their thoughts on this particular issue could be, with hindsight.
It might not be possible to cover all aspects of the speech the President gave on that, but here are some of the promises President Ruto made…
IEBC
President Ruto singled out the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for special commendation for a job well done.
However, four “rebel” commissioners dubbed ‘the Cherera Four’ who opposed the final result, were hounded out of office for reasons best known to the Executive as the other three had their terms of service expire.
Today, the IEBC stands commissioner-less! Following the signing of the IEBC Bill 2024 on July 7, the focus now shifts to President William Ruto.
He will be required to publish in a Gazette Notice the names of the individuals submitted to him to sit on the panel. It remains to be seen how long the IEBC will take to conduct by-elections that occasioned the departure of two MPs from ODM who left the opposition benches for lofty ministerial positions in President Ruto’s broad-based government.
On the occasion of his inauguration, Dr Ruto said that “innovative deployment of technology to secure election results has been the electoral commission’s pioneering breakthrough. Going forward, we will support IEBC’s institutional capacity so as to expand the deployment of technology to cover all elections from the MCA to the President.” Political rivalry, preservation of the status quo, and court processes have held back the IEBC since it oversaw the last general elections.
The judiciary
In his speech, President Ruto chose to celebrate the judiciary for sustaining “its tradition of boldly giving much-needed guidance… and resolving grievances in a sensitive, credible, and authoritative manner.”
The President, almost waxing lyrical, said the judiciary’s “articulation of the aspirations and standards enshrined in the Constitution has deepened our democracy and institutionalized the rule of law.”
“Our judiciary has demonstrated transparency in its proceedings and decision-making, thereby consolidating its independence, authority, and legitimacy.”
However, this would be a far cry from the reality check scenario in 2024. Earlier this year, when the Kenya Kwanza government was bogged down by one judicial ruling after another, he vowed on January 3, while at a function in Nyandarua, to disregard court rulings or injunctions that he said are meant to derail his government agenda, especially given by certain “corrupt” judges.
This was the second time that the President was accusing a cabal of “faceless judges” of corruption, alleging bribery in some of the court rulings that impeded some of his key Kenya Kwanza Administration programs.
At what point did the courts lose their independence, authority, and legitimacy? Who are these faceless judges who stand accused and convicted in his court?
Further, the president said his administration will seek to consolidate the place of the judiciary in our constitutional and democratic dispensation; he reiterated that his administration would respect judicial decisions and cement the place of Kenya as a country anchored on democracy and the rule of law.
President Ruto went on to say Kenya Kwanza’s campaign for the financial independence of the judiciary had paid off with the implementation of the judiciary fund on July 1st, 2022.
He pledged his administration would scale up the budgetary allocation to the judiciary by an additional Ksh.3 billion annually for the next five years.
The judiciary still suffers from chronic underfunding, and most observers question why the parliament of Kenya, situated within one location only and with much fewer employees than the judiciary spread throughout the country, gets more funding from the Treasury.
The President went on; “To further demonstrate my commitment to the independence of the judiciary, this afternoon I will appoint the six judges already nominated for appointment to the court of appeal three years ago by the Judicial Service Commission, and tomorrow I shall preside over their swearing-in ceremony so that they can get on with the business of serving the people.”
Ruto has started alleging what his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, would do when cornered; he would start screaming about “corrupt judges” in the system, setting back his government’s key projects.
The police
President Ruto also singled out the “national security services for a commendable job at a critical period in our nation.
Their service and heroic sacrifices have kept our nation safe. I am aware that our uniformed services effectively resisted concerted attempts to foment unrest and subvert the will of the people.”
He said; “As required by Article 245 of the Constitution, the Inspector-General of Police is mandated to exercise independent command over the National Police Service.
The services’ operational autonomy, however, has been undermined by the continued financial dependence on the Office of the President.
The president promised to remedy the situation as soon as possible. He said he had instructed that the instrument conferring financial autonomy to the National Police Service by transferring their budget from the Office of the President and designating the Inspector-General as the accounting officer be placed on my desk for signature.
“Financial independence for the police will give impetus to the fight against corruption and end the political weaponization of the criminal justice system, an undertaking I made to the people of Kenya.”
However, the police service remains under the influence of the executive, and no attempt has been made to offer meaningful reforms or independence to the police service.
They are used for intimidation, repression, and acts of violence against perceived opponents of the government in power today.
Praise for the youth for being involved in the democratic processes in Kenya.
The president had very precise words for the youth who contributed to his journey; he said, “It is important for me to speak directly to the youth and especially those who participated, in one way or another, in the election campaigns… Even if your candidates did not win, your participation in the activities of political parties, campaigns, and elections is the beginning of a political internship. My political journey similarly began as a young campaign volunteer, fresh out of university. Your experience and lessons learned should form the basis for your leadership journey.”
Fast forward to 2024, and looking at the Gen-Z-led protests, one would almost be baffled, as these are the same demographic group he chose for singular praise, yet they are still exercising the same democratic rights to picket over things they do not agree with.
Low morale in the public service
“I understand the deep fissures and low morale in the public service. I assure all public officers that my administration will respect their professional service, and no public servant, even chiefs and their assistants, will be required to run political errands for any political party or formation,” promised the president.
“The county commissioners, chiefs, the police, and other cadres of public service have continued to be intimidated and used to run errands for politicians and those close to power.”
Meanwhile, just a week ago, the government, to forestall a nationwide strike by the civil service, offered a salary increment for civil servants, ending a looming strike that would have paralyzed service delivery countrywide.
Job creation and bringing down the high cost of living
President Ruto said, “We anchored our campaign on the platform of the economy premised on job creation and the well-being of the people and are working continuously on the measures to bring down the cost of living. Our people are confronted daily with increasingly unaffordable prices, especially food and transport. It calls for an urgent and decisive resolution.”
The government has been unable to create meaningful work opportunities within the country and has resorted to trying to place Kenyans into menial jobs abroad.
The manufacturing sector has shrunk further. Food and transport continue to be a challenge to many Kenyans who are weighed down by a barrage of new and increased taxes, government fees, and a poor-performing economy, which has seen more private firms freeze employment, scale down operations, or wind up the firms altogether.
No subsidy! Not under my watch…
The President was very categorical when it came to matters of subsidy. Strange as it sounded, he scraped off the subsidies offered under the Jubilee administration.
While governments all around the world offer subsidies to protect their citizens from high costs of living, President Ruto, in his first major policy announcement, surprised many when he scraped subsidies on maize meal and fossil fuel, which immediately increased the retail price of petrol, diesel, and paraffin to an all-time high.
The President was categorical that such subsidies do not help the masses but rather just serve to enrich a few well-placed business entities.
In addition to being very costly to the exchequer, President Ruto said consumption subsidy interventions are prone to abuse; they distort markets and create uncertainty, including artificial shortages of the very products being subsidized.
He stated that he would rather subsidize production, which is the real driver of the cost of living. The president then embarked on subsidizing farm inputs, which he felt would over time bring down the cost of maize- meals.
On the other hand, Kenya being a net importer of fertilizer, the importation of fertilizer provided a very healthy ground for scams.
Officials around the government immediately conspired to sell to poor farmers adulterated fertilizer, which burst into a scandal earlier this year.
But the subsidy cuts as well as tax hikes in 2023 increased living costs and contributed to violent anti-government protests. Towards the end of 2023, the government quietly resumed the fuel subsidy program to cushion the pump costs of fuel, which had crossed the Ksh.200 mark to a litre.
Job creation
The president specifically spoke about jobs or the lack thereof.
He said, “Jobs are our other priority. It is time for us to stem the tide of youth unemployment. Every year, 800,000 young people join the workforce, and over 600,000 of them do not find opportunities for productive work. Moreover, our young people in cities and towns face very hostile environments, many times treated as a nuisance and their hustles criminalized. Those who seek to set up formal businesses are faced with the bureaucratic monster that is multiple licenses.”
This gave many unemployed youth great hope and encouragement. But the situation on the ground remains tough and hostile to the youth, as there are fewer jobs created locally and the youth lack avenues to offer meaningful contributions to society.
Bottom-up economic model
Taking the opportunity to drum up the Kenya Kwanza “bottom-up” economic model, the President reiterated that his immediate agenda was to create a favourable business and enterprise environment, decriminalize livelihoods, and support people in the informal sector to organize themselves into stable, viable, and creditworthy business entities.
He called this the “essence” of the bottom-up economic model, which creates a path for traders and entrepreneurs to build linkages, experience safety, and enjoy security.
We will work with county governments to create frameworks that provide secure trading places in our cities and towns.
As this is yet to be realized, time is fast running out to witness the “essence” of the bottom-up economic model. The plight of mama-mbogas’, boda boda people, and hawkers remains the same.
As if on cue, yesterday on the eve of this commemoration they staged a big show of defiance and demonstrated against plans to relocate them from certain selling sites in Nairobi, such as the Marigiti Market area.
The Hustler Fund was to be a magic bullet
Onto Kenya Kwanza’s pet topic, the President was ecstatic that the hustler fund was at last at hand to bring about the much-touted financial inclusion.
He said, “Financial inclusion and access to credit are critical in addressing the fundamental factors of the cost of living, job creation, and people’s well-being.
President Ruto said the Hustler Fund would be dedicated to the capitalization of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises through chamas, saccos, and cooperatives to make credit available on affordable terms that do not require collateral. On Monday this week, a report came out detailing how ever half of Hustler Fund borrowers had defaulted in payments, which totalled over Ksh.11 billion.
The President also said his administration was ready to take measures to drive down the cost of credit first by “shifting the Credit Reference Bureau’s (CRB) framework from its current practice of arbitrary, punitive, and all-or-nothing blacklisting of borrowers, which denies borrowers credit.”
Indeed, on July 2, 2023, President William Ruto announced the government removed seven million Kenyans who were blacklisted at the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). The President said by doing this he had fulfilled his pledge given in the run-up to the general elections of 2022.
Lift the no-question transaction threshold from Ksh.1M to Ksh.2.1M
The president said in his engagements with traders, they complained about the onerous burden involved in cash transactions exceeding Ksh.1 million.
“I have been assured by the Central Bank that work on how to ease this burden without compromising the security of the financial system is underway.”
President Ruto’s efforts bore fruit when the reporting threshold on transactions in banks was raised from USD 10,000 to USD 15000 with the enactment of the AML/CFT (Amendment) Act 2023. However, many sectoral stakeholders had reservations about abusing the same, but the majority had their way.
Affordable housing
The President promised to establish a Ministry of Cooperatives and SME Development mandated to ensure that every small business has secure property rights, access to finance, and a supportive regulatory framework.
This was promptly done when the President, exercising his executive powers, set up the ministry in line with Executive Order Number 1 of 2022.
Through the Finance Act 2023, the government introduced the Affordable Housing levy at 1.5% of every employer and employee’s gross pay, but it was found unconstitutional by the High Court in November 2023.
However, the government began the process afresh and enacted a new law fulfilling the requisite constitutional requirements that resulted in the Affordable Housing Act 2024.
On the other hand, President William Ruto said during Labor Day this year that the affordable housing project has now helped to create jobs for at least 140,000 Kenyan youth. But his critics keep pointing out that not all the youth can be employed at construction sites, and for how long will the buildings be built?
Pending bills are still with us
The President reiterated the need to clear over Ksh 600 billion in “pending bills” for goods and services supplied to the government.
He said he was aware that many individuals, families, and firms were being driven to ruin or forced to shut down over government unpaid bills.
He promised to sort it out, but unfortunately, pending bills have hung over the national and county governments’ financial health to date.
A number of Kenyans have lost their livelihoods, property, and even lives owing to unpaid bills by either the county or the national government.
Growing the tax bracket
Additionally, President Ruto said there was an urgent need to expand the government’s tax base using the job creation agenda as well as capitalize on SME growth to broaden the tax bracket.
This has been met with resistance and, in some cases, outright rejection. An attempt to bring farmers, specifically avocado farmers, to the tax bracket, greatly backfired when KRA officers were chased off from a meeting they convened to sensitize farmers on registering on the KRA digital invoicing platform.
The president also promised to make KRA more professional, efficient, responsive, and people-friendly; this has largely failed as Kenyans are still wary of any engagements with the taxman.
The two-thirds gender rule
At his inauguration, the President spoke very strongly on the matter of gender parity; he said he was committed to the two-thirds gender rule as enshrined in the Constitution and he would work with Parliament to fast-track various legislative proposals and establish a framework that will resolve this matter expeditiously. This has remained on paper.
The education sector in Kenya
Talking about the sector of education in the country, President Ruto said talk on the CBC curriculum and particularly its implementation had gripped the country as a whole.
He said the way forward was to form an education reform task force in the presidency. The task force was formed and has long given its recommendations on the way forward within the sector, some of which have stirred up a lot of controversy, such as the new university funding model.
The sector recommended the way forward for the CBC system of education, which is still being implemented.
On devolution
On devolution matters, the President promised to promote budget efficiency and minimize disruptions and delays in devolved service delivery.
He promised to take necessary measures to secure the timely disbursement of revenue allocations to county governments, as the success of devolution depends on sound inter-governmental relations.
However, the devolved units have continued to suffer from acutely delayed disbursements and the attendant ballooning pending bills. A good number of counties strive to meet only the recurrent bills.
Spearheading Climate Change talks
The President said on matters of climate change, the concern of his government would support a climate summit in Africa in November 2023. The summit was promptly held in November 2023, where the President led from the front by championing the delivery of climate finance and cutting-edge technology needed by Africa to successfully adapt to climate impacts.
If this was a scorecard today of President Ruto’s performance over the two years, on a rating of one to ten, what would the score be?
By Vincent Obadha
Read the Original article on https://citizen.digital/
