Apologise for saying you will lower Kenya's cost of living, President Ruto told

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna wants President William Ruto to apologise to Kenyans for what he terms as lying in his campaign pledges where he promised to bring down the cost of living.

President Ruto ascended to power on the platform of lowering the cost of living and championing Kenyans in the low-income bracket he called ‘hustlers’, but a year into office, Kenya is in a heated debate about fuel prices that have hit an all-time high.

Recently, he signed the Finance Act, 2023, which seeks to increase taxation as the Kenya Kwanza government seeks to raise more from Kenyans. His borrowing in his first year also broke the record of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta in the previous year.

Now, Sifuna wants Ruto to come out and apologise to Kenyans who are concerned about the current situation in comparison to what he promised.

“When he was addressing the cost of fuel as Deputy President, the war in Ukraine according to him had no links whatsoever to the cost of living, neither was climate change. He singled out state capture and cartels. He told us he would destroy the cartels but fuel is now retailing at over Ksh.200. What happened to that story?” posed the senator.

Ruto last year dismissed his then-boss President Uhuru Kenyatta’s concerns about the role of the Russia-Ukraine war and the Covid-19 pandemic in the cost-of-living crisis.

He shot down Kenyatta’s remarks as a “lost cause”, adding that the answer to the high cost of living is investing in agriculture and doubling farm produce.

According to Senator Sifuna, who spoke on Citizen TV's Day Break program on Thursday, Ruto was playing tactics with Kenyans to win their votes in the 2022 presidential polls.

“There should be some sense of responsibility. Will we see Ruto come and say sorry to the Mwananchi, that ‘I lied to you and you are fools for believing my lies?’ At the very minimum, they owe Kenyans an apology,” he said.

“Under the Leadership and Integrity Act, it is a crime for which you should be jailed, for a public officer to give false information to the public.”

The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority last week announced that Super Petrol prices have now increased by Ksh.16.96, Diesel by Ksh.21.32, while Kerosene climbs the highest by Ksh.33.13 per litre.

The Authority’s Director General Daniel Kiptoo Bargoria attributed the increase to the weighted average cost of imported refined petroleum products.