President William Ruto’s first five weeks in office have been marked by major policy contractions and U-turns on some lofty campaign promises.
President Ruto, who was elected on a platform of lowering the cost of living, promised that his election would be an economic moment rather than a chance for the political class to carve out positions for themselves.
However, after barely a month in office, the cost of living has continued to rise, with Dr Ruto actively pushing for the creation of a chief administrative secretary (CAS), a position that the High Court has ruled is unconstitutional, on top of failing to fulfill his promise of an interest-free hustler fund.
President Ruto had also promised to reduce fertiliser prices to Sh2,500 per 50kg bag, but has now reversed his position and set the price at Sh3,500, blaming global market dynamics.
In the run-up to the August 9 elections, Dr. Ruto promised a Sh50 billion hustler kitty to provide small businesses with interest-free credit.
“Kenya Kwanza will dignify the business of every ordinary Kenyan. That is why we are setting up a Sh50 billion Hustler Fund so that small enterprises can access interest-free credit to facilitate their growth, hence supporting more livelihoods,” Dr Ruto was quoted saying on July 26.
This has since changed after the President stated that the money will earn a single-digit interest rate in addition to imposing conditions on the would-be beneficiaries.
Dr. Ruto indicated in his Mashujaa Day speech on Thursday that ‘hustlers’ will have to participate in a pensions program in order to access cheap credit.
