Kenya is safely out of the danger of debt distress, Ruto assures

Ruto was speaking on Tuesday during the 60th Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi, where he attributed the milestone to sacrifices made to guarantee the nation's economic stability. 

The Head of State noted that all the economic indicators point to good news, with the inflation rate being 6.8%, down from a high of 9.2% last year.

"In the last 6 months, our GDP has grown at 5.4%, making Kenya the 29th fastest growing economy in the world, according to the World Bank," he said.

Ruto outlined the government's commitment to accelerating economic progress, in a futuristic move aimed at focusing on human capital.

"Our human capital, our innovative, smart-working, professional labor force is probably the single most potent arsenal we have to drive our economic progress. Our expenditure on training, learning, and education in general is a most appropriate investment in the development of the human capital necessary for our economic progress," Ruto asserted.  

The Head of State went on to detail the efforts of the government in improving the education sector, which has involved increased allocation to the education sector.

 "Out of this, Ksh.46 billion will support the new university funding model, an additional Ksh. 9 billion to cover our TVET funding model and the hiring of an extra 2,000 tutors, an additional Ksh. 47 billion to enable TSC to hire 56,000 teachers and other interventions, and Ksh. 24 billion for basic education," he explained.

He further addressed the classroom deficit in Nairobi county, terming it as one of the government's commitments to enhance educational infrastructure.

 "We have undertaken to build 3,500 additional classrooms with the first Ksh. 1 billion allocated in this year’s budget to address the classroom deficit in Nairobi county," Ruto said.