President William Ruto broke down the measures his government will take to realise a complete turnaround of the life of Kenyans during his reign.
Addressing the nation on Thursday, October 20, Ruto made several promises touching on improving food production, housing, the system of education, health insurance, internet connectivity and service delivery.
The president promised to tame the high cost of food commodities by mitigating the current low crop production in the country.
"We have a severe food shortage as a result of a prolonged drought in Kenya coupled with this are the extremely high global fertiliser prices," he noted.
Lowering food costs
The president stated that his government will continue with the fertilizer subsidy programme and had reached out to its East African neighbours to start local manufacturing as a mid-term remedy.
"We have also made arrangements to make another six million bags of various types of fertiliser available for the long rains season," Ruto affirmed.
He added that he will construct at least 100 dams through public-private partnerships to increase the land under cultivation.
To lower the cost of milk and reduce the wastage of dairy products, Ruto declared that he would reinstate the stalled milk coolers’ programme and distribute 650 milk coolers.
Access to Internet
The youth's interest in the creative industry will also be boosted through the expansion of internet connectivity nationwide.
This, the President explained will be done by laying out an additional 100,000km of the national fibre-optic network. In addition, the cost of data will further be lowered.
"To bring more Kenyans, especially the youth online for business, learning, entertainment and socialisation, the government intends to take measures to bring down the cost of calls and data," Ruto stated.
Furthermore, he promised to push the digitization and automation of state services to over 80 per cent.
Housing
Ruto stated that his government will build up to 500,000 affordable housing units. He noted that the process was taking shape.
"Already, 2,592 units have been completed, 40,452 are under construction and over 500,000 units that require financial backstopping and funding for bulk infrastructure are in the pipeline," he disclosed.
He declared that the state would offer incentives to the developers such as introducing a VAT exemption on inputs to lower the cost of construction.
Creation of Employment and Access to Credit
The President divulged that some of the undertakings by the government will create jobs for the youth such as those in the jua kali sector who will be contracted in the housing projects.
In line with the protection of water catchment areas and water beds, Ruto instructed the Kenya Forest Services to employ 3,000 youth.
"I have directed the immediate recruitment of an additional 2,700 forest rangers and 600 forest officers to augment our interventions in this sector," he declared.
“The plan is to grow 5 billion trees in the next 5 years, and an additional 10 billion trees between 2027 and 2032. This will eventually lead to the rehabilitation and restoration of 10.6 million hectares through constituency nerve-centres in the 290 constituencies, as well as some specially selected ecosystem,” said the President.
The head of state disclosed that in addition to lowering the interest on mobile money laws and removing those listed as defaulters, the rollout of the hustlers' fund will ensure all youth have access to credit.
Value for Education
In light of the rising unemployment numbers, which is partly contributed to a mismatch in training with industry needs, Ruto promised to transform the education sector.
"High-quality and relevant education is vital in imparting the necessary skills and competencies to learners from pre-primary to the tertiary level to enable citizens to engage meaningfully with the present and future world," he reckoned.
In his parting shot, he assured that access to health services will be to all through the revitalization of the Universal Health Coverage - UHC. He promised to also review the working conditions of healthcare workers to streamline the sector.
