President Ruto will turn around Kenya’s economy: Hussein Mohamed

State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed has defended President William Ruto’s administration’s economic performance since taking over power from Uhuru Kenyatta in September 2022.

Ruto, who was Kenyatta’s deputy for a decade, has repeatedly blamed his predecessor for the country’s economic state, saying Mr Kenyatta drove the country into unsustainable public debt.

Since assuming office, he has introduced a raft of new taxes which despite backlash, he maintains are the sure way to drive Kenya "out of the danger of debt distress."

The State House spokesperson on Sunday shared a newspaper infographic on X, explaining the country's economic status over the years since 2007 under the late President Mwai Kibaki’s administration.

The illustration compared the rate of tax collection to Kenya’s GDP during Kibaki and Uhuru’s regimes, showing that the rate remained above 20 per cent for five years under President Kibaki between 2007 and 2012.

It further showed a downward trajectory in Kenya’s rate of tax collection to GDP since Uhuru took power in 2013.

Mr Mohamed said the same way Ruto was Kenyatta’s deputy during the Jubilee administration, Kibaki was also vice president to President Daniel Moi and still transformed Kenya's economy after taking over power..

“When entrusted with top leadership, he made bold decisions to correct the mistakes of the Moi regime and put Kenya on the right economic trajectory. Though initially unpopular, these decisions proved worthy in the long run,” wrote Mohamed.

“Looking at the figures by standard, the tax-to-GDP ratio worsened in the post-handshake period, dropping to 14% by 2020,” he added, referring to opposition leader Raila Odinga’s political truce with Kenyatta on March 9, 2018.

President Ruto, the State House spokesperson said, is already turning around Kenya’s economy and Kenyans need to be patient.

“President @WilliamsRuto is & will turn around our economy; we will live within our means as a country and free ourselves from the shackles of debt,” Mohamed wrote.

President Ruto had earlier in the day posted the same infographic on his X account, writing “This is where the problem lies.”