Cabinet to ratify Sh5trn infrastructure fund

President William Ruto is expected to chair a special Cabinet meeting today to approve a Sh5 trillion National Infrastructure Fund (NIF), which he says will accelerate the delivery of development projects.

The government-backed initiative is aimed at shifting infrastructure financing away from debt by pooling proceeds from the privatisation of State-owned assets, in a bid to reduce reliance on external borrowing and tax increases.

Speaking during a church service in Gatundu North, Kiambu County, on Sunday, President Ruto said the fund will scale up the implementation of both existing and new projects as part of his manifesto commitments made during the 2022 General Election.

He said the move is a decisive step in Kenya’s push to transition from a developing economy to a First World country.

“Tomorrow (today), we will have a special Cabinet sitting that will approve a Sh5 trillion infrastructure fund that will help take our development projects forward. We are now officially starting the journey to transform Kenya into a First World country,” Dr Ruto said.

In his recent State of the Nation Address, the president said part of his development agenda involves converting some loss-making State corporations into commercially viable enterprises.

Among those earmarked for privatisation is the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), which is expected to raise about Sh100 billion.

“Through the National Infrastructure Fund, all privatisation proceeds will be ring-fenced and invested strictly in public infrastructure,” he said.

The Head of State further dismissed claims that his development push is driven by the 2027 General Election, saying his focus is on delivery rather than politics.

“If it was about votes, you elected me in 2022, and that is enough for me to deliver. Elections will come later; it is time to work. When that time comes, people should be judged according to what they have done,” Dr Ruto added.

At the same time, political tensions played out during the president’s visit, pitting Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi against Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a and her Gatundu North counterpart, Elijah Kururia.

Drama unfolded when Ms Ng’ang’a rose to speak and declared her intention to vie for the Kiambu governorship in the 2027 General Election.

Moments later, Mr Kururia, who followed her on the podium, referred to Ms Ng’ang’a as the “incoming governor,” a remark that angered Governor Wamatangi. He interjected and asserted that he remains both the sitting and incoming governor.

It took President Ruto’s intervention to defuse the situation.

“We agreed as the people of Kiambu that politics will wait until 2027. I am the sitting governor and the governor-to-be. If there was any doubt, now you know who the incoming governor is,” Mr Wamatangi said.

The fallout between Mr Wamatangi and politicians that are close to Dr Ruto has played out in several public forums attended by the president.

In September, during the burial of Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah’s father, Isaac Ichung’wah Ngugi, Governor Wamatangi was given a cold shoulder.

an incident widely seen as signalling an ongoing cold war between him and the Executive.

Governor Wamatangi has previously accused a section of Kiambu MPs of being used by powerful figures within government to undermine his administration.

Mr Ichung’wah is one of the fiercest critics of Governor Wamatangi’s leadership and is also one of President Ruto’s closest allies.

Barely three months ago, President Ruto invited Kiambu legislators and opinion leaders to State House, a meeting from which Governor Wamatangi was conspicuously absent. His aides later told the Daily Nation that he had not been invited.