President William Ruto said on New Year Day the cost of electricity will not go up as expected.
He said the government had taken care of subsidies removed from maize flour, fuel and electricity.
“There will be no additional cost of electricity. We have already taken care of all the subsidies that we removed and we are going to ensure that all are well taken into consideration as we review tariffs,” he said.
He spoke at a church in Mombasa on Sunday, January 1.
“We have transitioned from an economy based on debt to an economy based on revenue. We want to leave an inheritance for our children by building our country not on debt but on our taxes.”
In a New Year’s message, Ruto explained that the previous government’s introduction of the subsidies was driven by political expediency rather than the needs of the economy.
“We have to do away with those subsidies or they would cost our economy big time,” Ruto said. We did away with the subsidies in August and I am happy that we have saved our economy a huge amount of money and we are now well on the way to making sure that we are investing in areas that will drive our economy in a sustainable way.”
He assured citizens that his government has put measures in place to build a strong, sustainable, and self-reliant economy.
“I am very confident that we have now laid a foundation that will take our economy away from dependence on debt to dependence on revenues that are raised by taxpayers,” he said. We cannot drive this economy on borrowings.”
Ruto added that the tough decisions made by his government will lead to the country’s income growth from Sh2 trillion to Sh3 trillion within the next five years.
“These are important issues. We must tell each other the truth, not short political gimmicks but solid economic policies that will take us far,” he said.
In addition to addressing the economy, Ruto also announced plans to hire 30,000 teachers and 3,000 tutors in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in January.
“We are also going to hire tutors to take care of our TVET institutions because, in TVETs, we have the best human capital that is tailored towards science and mathematics and the areas that are going to lead us to engineering because that is the future we are looking for,” he said.
He added he will not shy away from making difficult but unpopular decisions throughout the year as long as they benefit Kenyans and positively contribute to bettering Kenya’s economy.
“When I came into office, I had to make difficult decisions about our economy because we were not doing well and we need to change the foundation of our economy and this will not change,” said Ruto said he had ordered police to accord elected leaders, with different political affiliations, with the same level of respect as their Kenya Kwanza counterparts.
He likewise chimed in on the uptake of the Hustler Fund by Kenyans, noting that as at the end of 2022, Sh20 billion had been borrowed from the kitty he launched in late November.
“We will increase the fund every month to ensure that the person who started by borrowing Sh500 is able to borrow up to Sh50,000 in no time at all,” he noted.
He said his administration has the plan to ensure that his government builds momentum on the importance of planting trees throughout the country and that the state will hire youth to help drive the initiative.
He vowed that his administration will continue offering assistance to its neighbors like Somalia who are currently experiencing high cases of insecurity and instability.
