We’ll soon table a revised budget, President William ruto says
President William Ruto (left) and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua during the burial of Mr Gachagua’s brother in Hiriga village, Nyeri County, on October 4, 2022.
The government plans to revise the budget and take it to Parliament in the next one and half months to help cut on spending and borrowing, President William Ruto has said.
President Ruto said the current budget required heavy borrowing, which would overburden Kenyans.
In April, outgoing Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani presented a Sh3.3 trillion budget for the 2022/2023 financial year, representing a 4.8 per cent growth in public spending.
Speaking in Nyeri during the burial of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s brother, President Ruto said the current budget would force the country to borrow Sh900 billion. He blamed the budget for plunging the country into huge debts.
“We must tell each other the truth, that the budget that we currently have is forcing us to borrow about Sh900 billion,” Dr Ruto said. “We must reduce that borrowing because we are injecting huge debts for the citizens of Kenya and our future generations. The country has a debt of about Sh10 trillion,” he added.
He reiterated his directive to ministries to cut expenditure by Sh300 billion. He said the amended budget will channel more resources to the agriculture docket to boost food production and lower the high cost of living.
Universal Health Coverage
“On behalf of the Executive, I want to assure you that we will do our part and I ask the Legislature and the Judiciary to do the same so as to transform this country together,” the President said.
The President appealed to the Judiciary “to help us in ensuring that all the plans that are meant to help in moving out country forward are not derailed by people with ill motives”.
Dr Ruto also challenged MPs from across the political divide to perform their obligation of moving the country forward by supporting his administration’s development agenda.
“We will take some legislations to Parliament on housing, savings, Universal Health Coverage... I am appealing to all MPs to remember that they have an obligation of taking this country forward,” President Ruto said.
He said his administration is rolling out plans to further reduce the cost of fertiliser from Sh3,500 per 50kg to Sh2,500. This, he said, will boost food production.
He called on county governors to supervise the distribution of the fertiliser at the grassroots so as to ensure that genuine farmers easily access the commodity.
Peaceful election
Dr Ruto thanked Kenyans for conducting a peaceful election and setting a good example to other countries worldwide.
“We have set a new standard for ourselves as a nation; we have changed ourselves from the politics of ethnicity to issue-based. Today, Kenya has earned itself a place in the community of nations as a country that can prosecute its affairs and have a peaceful election where we vote and go back to work. As a President, I will ensure that that place will never come down,” the President said.
