President William Ruto has urged public officials to up in their game in explaining government programmes, embracing austerity, and efficiently and transparently managing public resources as means to curb what is seen as widespread public anger against his government.
The President spoke on Friday at State House, Nairobi while presiding over the swearing-in of new Cabinet Secretaries Mutahi Kagwe (Agriculture and Livestock Development), William Kabogo (Information, Communication and Digital Economy), and Lee Kinyanjui (Investments, Trade and Industry).
"We must enlist all citizens in the collective task of national transformation. With limited fiscal space and ongoing austerity measures, many are being asked to make do with less than expected," President Ruto said.
"We must articulate our vision, embracing short-term austerity for long-term prosperity, while prioritising investments in the multipliers of opportunity and abandoning expenditures on consumption," the Head of State said.
The President warned that he will not relent in demanding transparency, accountability and efficient management of public resources.
"We must be excellent stewards of public funds, taking a strong stand against corruption and wastage," President Ruto said.
While many political pundits link the appointments of Mr Kagwe, Mr Kabogo, and Mr Kinyanjui, from Nyeri, Kiambu, and Nakuru counties, respectively, into a plot to appease Mt Kenya region that has grown rebellious against the president and his government, the President said he picked on them owing to their strong mix of leadership skills and extensive experience in political, legislative, and executive capacities.
"These cabinet secretaries are well-equipped to mobilise the machinery of government, drive them to deliver services to the people of Kenya, while steering inclusive development and economic growth that leaves no one behind," the President said.
"The challenging moments are marked by volatility in the prices of essential commodities especially petroleum, global conflicts, geopolitical disruptions in supply chains, an oppressive debt crisis fuelled by an unfair global financial system and extreme weather patterns exacerbated by climate change," he explained further.
"These factors have complicated our post-Covid 19 pandemic recovery, constrained fiscal space and diverted resources from development to debt repayment," he said.
He added that more resources have been diverted from transformative development agenda to disaster recovery and climate action.
"As a result, our capacity to especially create opportunities at a pace that addresses unemployment for the growing youth population has been severely impacted," the President said.
President Ruto observed that his Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda is now well underway, with intensive work being carried out across the country in all the priority value chains and cross-cutting enablers that constitute its strategic pillars.
He said thousands of new housing units are being completed to bridge the affordable housing gap "while our productivity in agriculture and livestock has enhanced self-sufficiency in critical crops, such as maize and sugar."
He added that community health promoters are actively delivering timely and quality primary healthcare services at the grassroots level "as we make unprecedented strides in universal healthcare coverage."
The president added that the digital and creative economy strategy is delivering last-mile fibre optic networks and digital hubs in every ward across the country hence affording thousands of Kenyans opportunity to tap into the opportunities on offer in the sector.
"And we are only getting started. The Hustler economy is also undergoing an unprecedented transformation as we promote financial and regulatory inclusivity through the Hustler Fund and related institutional measures," he said.
President Ruto remained upbeat, saying his the task being daunting, he will overcome.
"In this daunting context, the people of Kenya have tasked us with the responsibility of undertaking a historic transformation. We acknowledge the complex and dynamic challenges before us, but we remain determined to see through the implementation of our transformation agenda," he said.
To overcome the challenges, President Ruto said "this moment calls for extraordinary ability, strength of character, steadiness of purpose, clarity of mind, and devotion to our national values and principles of governance."
He said overcoming demands unity, teamwork, synergy and goodwill within and among various teams and organisations that comprise government.
"I therefore expect you to serve the people of Kenya with dedication, professionalism, fairness, and understanding. While we must be firm and effective in our actions, we should also approach our engagements with compassion and patience, particularly when communicating with the public," he said.
