President William Ruto has reaffirmed his commitment to developing Kenya’s economy into a self-sustaining system that does not depend on local or foreign lenders.
Speaking to the Siaya County people on Sunday, August 31, during an interdenominational church service, Ruto added Kenya has the resources and human capital to build an independent economy. He compared it to other countries in Asia such as Korea, China, and Singapore that developed from developing countries to being great economies within decades.
Kenya’s biggest challenge, Ruto said, is not the absence of planning or resources but the absence of goodwill to implement them.
“There is no shortage of resources and plans in this country. What stands between the greatness of the country and the present is a focused, patriotic and courageous leadership. I am confident about the future of this country. Like the Korean, Chinese and Singapore transformed their countries, we can also change this Kenya in our lifetime and make it go to the first world. Singapore was on same level as Kenya 60 years ago, today they are in the first world as we still struggle in the third world,” he said.
The president noted that some of his government’s initiatives already point to a transformed economy. He singled out the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) as a key driver of economic independence, providing a pool of local resources that can fund development instead of external loans.
“Look at what we have done with the NSSF. In three years, we have double our savings. We had Ksh 320 billion, now we have Ksh 640 billion. What is going to happen in five, or ten or 20 years? We will not be borrowing money from outside but locally because we will be having enough savings. Look at what we have done in agriculture; we have cut down the importation of sugar by 70%, cut the importation of maize by 70%, because we have invested resources in production,” Ruto said.
He further stated that if the current trend continued, Kenya would be able to fund development projects without foreign debt within less than two decades.
Ruto appreciated Azimio leader Raila Odinga for cooperating with the Kenya Kwanza government to establish political stability, which he termed as the corner stone for long-term development.
“We are citizens of a great nation called Kenya, and it is our responsibility and up to us to change the destiny of this nation. What we have done to bring together people and assemble the broad-based government, is because it is necessary for the unity of this nation so that we can prosecute the important agenda of developing this nation and its transformation,” he said.
