Exactly a year after President William promised to fix the country’s healthcare system, reduce the cost of living, address the education issues and fix the economy, little has been achieved as Kenyans continue to be faced with challenging times.
President Ruto, while delivering his second State of The Nation Address (SoTNA) to the country during the joint sitting of the National Assembly and the Senate on November 21, 2024, promised to “tirelessly steer the country away from the brink of unprecedented economic collapse and onto a more promising trajectory.”
“Through the Digital Health Act, we are revolutionizing healthcare delivery. Universal Health Coverage is a cornerstone of our transformation agenda and a matter that touches every Kenyan family,” President Ruto told the country, with Sh122 billion as the projected expenditure during the period.
The President noted that by eliminating unnecessary human interaction, the country is tackling corruption, reducing inefficiencies and ensuring that resources are used where they are needed most.
However, the Sh76 billion Social Health Authority (SHA) debt crisis owed to medical facilities, hospitals under Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Associations (RUPHA), as well as mission health facilities empaneled by SHA, is causing medication to Kenyans to be more expensive than hitherto.
SHA, which replaced the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), was meant to empower citizens to contribute towards accessing a broad range of healthcare benefits, “representing a shift from the old, reactive healthcare model to a forward-looking system that prioritizes prevention and preparedness.”
Ruto: Government will cover SHA costs for vulnerable Kenyans
In President Ruto’s words, “Kenya will have a healthcare system that guarantees dignity, peace of mind and equitable access for every citizen for the very first time in our 60 years of independence.”
But this has not been achieved as Kenyans continue to toil under a very expensive healthcare system.
Of the over Sh76 billion SHA debt, RUPHA, an association of over 380 private hospitals and medical centres, is owed a cumulative Sh15 billion.
Failure to settle the medical bills has seen RUPHA members abandon SHA cards as they embark on out-of-pocket charges for medical services, making the situation dire.
Despite the SHA issues, the 2025 economic survey shows that the number of health facilities increased by 6.1 per cent to 15,984 in 2024, with the number of hospital beds increasing by 15.5 percent to 115,786 in 2024.
In 2024, the President told the country that favourable weather conditions that have seen a boost in food production is the reason inflation declined from 9.6 percent in September 2022 to 2.7 percent in October 2024, the lowest rate in 17 years.
The president noted that this not only led to increased production but also to productivity and “lowering the prices of many cereals, including maize, and pulses such as beans and peas.”
According to the 2025 economic survey, the Import Dependency Ratio (IDR) dropped to 17.3 per cent in 2024, indicating improved local food production.
“The reduction in inflation was attributed to lower food and energy prices, as well as the central bank’s efforts to maintain price stability through tight monetary policy,” the survey shows.
The 2025 economic survey notes that the number of basic learning institutions rose by 38.3 percent to 129,463 in 2024, after the inclusion of junior schools, which accounted for 24.7 percent of the total number of basic learning institutions.
Several private schools have applied for and obtained authority to establish junior schools within their senior schools.
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TVET institutions grew by 6.9 percent to 2,756 in 2024, partly attributed to an increase in the number of vocational training centres that received accreditation.
The total number of universities increased from 70 in 2023 to 72 in 2024 due to the awarding of charters to the National Intelligence Research University and Tangaza University.
However, the reduced funding from the government has been a thorn in the flesh, not forgetting the prolonged lecturers' strike that disrupted learning in the public universities.
This, even as it emerged that the amount of loans awarded by the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) increased by 59.5 percent to Sh46.9 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.
The survey shows that although the loans awarded under the New Funding Model (NFM) increased from Sh17.9 billion in the financial year 2023/24 to Sh20.9 billion.
In the same period, the government funding to universities through the Universities Fund (UF) was expected to decline from Sh30 billion in the financial year 2023/24 to Sh12.9 billion in the 2024/25 fiscal period.
This was due to a lack of clarity in the transition to the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), a shortage of 110,000 teachers and 23 out of 40 public universities were technically bankrupt and at risk of closure.
Among the Universities that faced severe challenges were the University of Nairobi (UoN), Kenyatta University (KU), Moi University, Egerton University, Maseno University and Masinde Muliro University.
“To address the issues in our education sector, we have already hired 56,000 teachers and are in the process of recruiting another 20,000 by January 2025,” the President said then.
President William Ruto addresses the Nation at State House, Nairobi on July 19, 2024.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
Last year, the president noted that the shilling had stabilized significantly, appreciating from Sh162 to the dollar in February 2024, to Sh129 currently, “a remarkable gain of 20 percent.”
The president recognized that the recovery restored confidence in “our financial markets” and significantly reduced the cost of servicing external debt, creating vital fiscal space for our development imperatives.
“This resilience shields us from external shocks in the global economy and restores investor confidence.”
According to the economic survey, in 2024, Kenya’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.7 percent, compared to a revised growth of 5.7 percent in 2023.
“The growth was noted in most of the sectors of the economy, with Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing growing by 4.6 percent compared to 6.6 percent growth in 2023,” the survey shows.
While financial and insurance activities, transportation and storage and real estate sectors recorded notable growth, construction, however, recorded a contraction of 0.7 per cent, down from a growth of 3.0 percent in 2023.
Mining and quarrying also recorded a contraction of 9.2 percent compared to a 2023 contraction of 6.5 percent, as evidenced in the reduced production of key minerals, including construction materials, titanium, salt (crude) and gemstones.”
In terms of employment, earnings and consumer prices, the president noted in 2024 that since July 2023, “we have successfully facilitated employment for 105,367 Kenyans across multiple countries in a wide range of jobs.”
Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Labour and Social Protection Alfred Mutua interacts with job seekers at KICC, Nairobi following a mass recruitment drive for various jobs in Qatari companies.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
“These opportunities span professional, skilled and unskilled sectors, including positions for nurses, teachers, and chefs,” noted the President.
He noted that the National Employment Authority (NEA), the lead agency driving our ambitious initiative to create job opportunities for qualified Kenyans locally and internationally, currently has a roll of over 560,000 job openings worldwide.
The economic survey notes that employment in the modern and informal sectors, excluding small-scale agriculture, went up from 20.0 million in 2023 to 20.8 million in 2024.
It shows that 782,000 new jobs were created in the economy in 2024, with the modern sector creating 78,000 jobs in 2024, reflecting a growth of 2.4 percent.
The informal sector created 703,000 new jobs compared to 720.900 in 2023, accounting for 90 percent of all new jobs created, excluding small-scale agriculture.
The survey shows that in the private sector, wage employment registered a growth of 2.1 percent in 2024 compared to 3.3 percent in 2023.
Under the governance, peace and security, the president made it clear that “there is no attempt to justify or excuse illegal arrests as such would be serious threats to the life and liberty of citizens.”
The president went on to condemn “any excessive or extrajudicial action which puts the life and liberty of any person at risk, including disappearances and threats to life.”
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Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
“I urge all Kenyans with information about such cases to forward the information to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, where they suspect members of the police service to be implicated,” said the president.
However, despite this, many cases of enforced disappearances, kidnappings, abductions and excessive use of force by security agencies on Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and other Kenyans have been reported.
Despite interventions from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), Mary Lawlor, for the government to account for the excessive use of force against unarmed Kenyans, the government had ignored the request until three weeks ago when it responded.
