President William Ruto has fired a warning shot to the organisers of next Thursday's countrywide protests, saying the government will not allow any destruction of property.
Speaking during the first National Productivity and Performance Conference at the Kenya School of Government, President Ruto said while it is the right of anyone to protest, the rights of others must also be protected.
“The one thing that is not going to happen is that people will be mobilised to destroy property, cause chaos or mayhem that will not happen. Children will go to school because it is their right, workers will go to work and businesses will open their businesses so that we grow our economy,” President Ruto said.
President William Ruto addresses mourners during a burial service for the late Zipporah Kosgey, wife of former Cabinet Minister Henry Kosgey, at Kipkoror Primary School in Nandi Hills, Nandi County on June 19, 2026.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
“It is right for every citizen who has an issue to petition or protest and we must protect their rights to do so but we must also protect the rights of our children to go to school and learn and our farmers to go the farm and produce food so that we don’t sleep hungry and the business people we must protect them to go to work, we must protect every worker to go to work so that raise our productivity,” he added.
Dr Ruto pointed out that Kenya being a civilised country governed by the constitution cannot be managed by chaos and people who are bitter and driven by self-destructive ideas.
“We must never allow things that take Kenya backwards. The other day I saw some people saying how they want to shut down the country. We will defend the rights of everybody because we are a country that believes in order, we are a civilised country, organised society that believes in the rule of law,” President Ruto said.
According to the President, the negative sentiments being peddled by a section of leaders concerning the country does not help in economic growth calling on everyone to participate in providing solutions.
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“There are people who are so negative about their own country; I don’t know who they want to build for them this country. You hate your country so that? Who will give you theirs if there is a problem in Kenya? Let's fix it; it’s our country,” Dr Ruto said.
Dr Ruto’s warning comes just a day after a section of leaders led by Siaya senator James Orengo, Martha Karua, former Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana and others notified the Inspector General of their plan to hold nationwide protests on Thursday next week to commemorate protesters that were killed during the 2024 anti-government demonstrations.
In solidarity with those killed, the organizers urged people to stay at home and businesses and schools to close in memory of those killed.The security apparatus has, however, questioned the call of people to stay at home saying it is a tactic being used by the organizers in order to cause chaos during the protest.
The Conference, which came to a close on Friday, ended with a major resolution aimed at boosting productivity in the public sector.
Among the resolutions, Parliament, County Assemblies, the Head of Public Service, among other major stakeholder, have been tasked to develop, enact, review and operationalise all necessary policy, legislative, institutional and administrative frameworks required to mainstream productivity as a core pillar of public sector planning, budgeting, performance management, remuneration, service delivery and accountability systems by June next year.
The meeting also resolved that all public sector compensation systems shall progressively transition from automatic salary progression and career progression to productivity and performance-based remuneration for Ministries Departments and Agencies at national and county governments.
The meeting also resolved that the government shall re-engineer the existing Performance Contracting Framework and increase the weighting of productivity indicators from the current 3 per cent to at least 50 per cent by June 2028
The move is aimed at institutionalising a productivity-driven public service, accelerating labour productivity growth, improving service delivery outcomes, strengthening fiscal sustainability, enhancing citizen satisfaction, and supporting Kenya's transformation into a globally competitive economy.
In addition, the meeting also resolved that digital transformation and business process re-engineering shall be accelerated across government to eliminate inefficiencies, improve service delivery, and increase productivity.
“The Conference further resolves that the Government shall fully automate and digitise public services 100 percent and internal operations to improve productivity, efficiency, transparency and citizen experience,” reads the resolutions.
“Forget about what people say outside there, all these resolutions will be implemented and I will add more because I also have some ideas,” President Ruto said.
Going forward, President Ruto said promotion in public service will be purely based on performance and not on how long one stayed on the job.
“That era ends here. From today, the public service of Kenya will reward results, not routine; impact, not attendance. We must stop measuring time spent and start measuring value created. What matters is not how long a public servant sits at a desk, but how much difference that public servant makes in the life of a citizen,” President Ruto said.
Going forward, President Ruto said promotion at work must be based on demonstrated results, never on mere longevity.
