Media to blame for housing levy misinformation — Ruto

President William Ruto has accused the media of fuelling the notion that the housing levy is unconstitutional.

"The problem of it being unconstitutional was made by the media,” President Ruto said in reference to the contentious Housing Levy.

The levy suffered a hiccup when the court declared it unconstitutional but maintained that the government should continue collecting the levy.

At the same time, the Head of State said that had all factors remained constant, the Kenya Kwanza regime would have wholly fulfilled it's promises to the electorate, especially in area of taming the high cost of living.

But for now, Dr Ruto said, Kenyans will have to wait for a while for the dollar/ shilling rate to get better," he explained.

"There is no miracle that will happen. We live in a global economy. The price of fuel is not controlled by the government of Kenya. It is controlled by producers. I promised in the context of where we are. If things remained constant, I would have fulfilled my promise (of stabilising the dollar)," Dr Ruto said.

The government, Dr Ruto said, has had to make very difficult and painful decisions, but "it is better to make those decisions today than to put Kenyans in debt distress."

The President said the price of fuel is not determined by his administration but by external factors.

He also insisted that the price of fuel in Kenya was the same as that of Uganda and Tanzania.

The President also maintained that while he has reduced taxes of road and railway development levies, the price of fuel was determined by producers and influenced by other global changes.

On the runaway cost of living and the high dollar exchange rate, President Ruto said: "The issue of exchange rate is controlled by many aspects. I came into the office when there was a serious situation caused by Covid-19, a big war in Europe, and a huge drought caused by climate change. All these factors combined to create a situation globally that increased the price of commodities that we import."

He explained that the Central Bank of the United States of America has increased interest rates from 0.25 to 5.25.

The President said this is the steepest interest rate interest in its history.

"Every country tried to increase liquidity but increased inflation in the process. Ours was almost double digit. What the world has done is to manage liquidation,” he said.

The Head of State said Kenya was only maintaining an artificial exchange rate.

Dr Ruto said the government has reduced the levy on importation of products that can be manufactured in the country. He said the government is importing Sh500 billion of food items from edible oil to maize and rice.

He said that Kenyans —and the government at large — have not paid adequate attention to agriculture, resulting into the skyrocketing cost of living.

Dr Ruto said that despite the interventions the government has made, "there is still no money in people's pockets."

The President said that the government has spent an extra Sh120 billion on education and was putting more money in health.

"We have hired 56,000 teachers. By the end of next year, we will have an additional 250,000 Kenyans working," he said.

On the concern that the government is broke but extravagant, he defended the numerous foreign trips he has made, touting them as yielding results.

Dr Ruto admitted that he is the most travelled President.

"Would you rather I sit in Nairobi and see Kenya burn down or go to America? Would you rather I not travel or go to South Korea to sort out problems in the electricity space and energy transmission? I can account for every shilling I have spent on my travel,"the President said.