Revisiting President-elect William Ruto’s manifesto

Dr. Ruto will take the oath of office next Tuesday, September 13, alongside his deputy Rigathi Gachagua.

Before their election in the August 9 polls, the two men who will steer Kenya for the next five years had laid out a raft of promises under the Kenya Kanza Alliance five-point manifesto. 

Among the top issues Dr. Ruto and Mr. Gacahagua vowed to tackle were economic recovery, reforms in the public healthcare system and what they called an end to "state capture".

The manifesto proposes reforms in Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) economy, Housing and Settlement, Healthcare, and the Digital Superhighway and Creative Economy.

1. Agriculture

• Channel Ksh.250 billion between the 2023 and 2027 financial years towards the sector.
• Deploy modern agricultural risk management instruments crop and livestock insurance schemes, commodity market instruments such as forward contracts, futures contracts and price stabilisation schemes to ensure farming is profitable and income is predictable.
• Transform two million poor farmers from food deficit to surplus producers through input finance and intensive agricultural extension support.
• Raise productivity of key value food chains and other value chains such as maize, dairy and beef.
• Reduce dependence on basic food imports by 30 per cent
• Revamp underperforming and collapsed export crops while expanding emerging ones like coffee and cashew nuts, as well as boosting tea value chain.

2. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME)

• Provide one-street trading premises for every 50 urban residents aimed at increasing average daily income of informal traders by Ksh.200.
• Cap total business licences at 1.5 per cent of turnover and intoduce law ensuring no business spends more than 4 person hours a month on tax and regulatory compliance. 
• Provide Ksh. 50 billion a year for MSMEs through SACCOs, venture capital, equity funds and long-term debt.
• Establish MSME Business Development Centre in every ward, and an industrial park and business incubation centre in every TVET institution.

3. Housing and Settlement

• 250,000 housing units every year under affordable long-term housing finance schemes.
• Grow the number of mortgages to 1,000,000 by enabling low-cost mortgages of less than Ksh.10,000.
• Give developers incentives to build more affordable housing.

4. Healthcare

• Provide National Health Insurance Fund coverage for all of Kenyans
• Employment of 20,000 healthcare workers
• Set up an emergency medical treatment fund to cater for emergency, cancer treatment and referrals
• Set aside Ksh.50 billion for Kenya Association of Retired Officers medical schemes
• Harmonise the terms of employment for all healthcare workers
• Set aside a Ksh.100 billion seed deposit towards strategic programs for HIV, tuberculosis, blood transfusion, malaria, family planning and reproductive health
• Lower the cost of treatment (drugs, consultation, laboratory services, imaging services.)

5. Digital Superhighway & Creative Economy

• Lay a 100,000 kilometre fiber optic connectivity network
• Roll out fibre to counties, villages, schools, over 24,000 businesses and homes
• Establish Africa Regional Hub and promote the development of Software for export

6. Infrastructure

• Complete all roads currently under construction and oversee upgrading and maintenance of rural access roads
• Set up Fuel Stabilisation Fund
• Develop Electric Vehicle motorcycle assembly industry
• Adopt of electric mass transit systems in all cities and towns

7. Environment & Climate Change

• Establish 5 million acres (20,000 km2) agro forestry woodlots in drylands 

8. Education 

• Pay for in-service teacher training
• Bridge current teacher shortage gap within two financial years
• Review the current exam-based system of academic progression and introduce alternative entry criteria
• Merge HELB, TVET and University Funding Board under a National Skill & Funding Council
• Set up a National Open University and implement 100 percent transition to higher education
• Increase funding to research and development institutions from 0.8 per cent to 2 percent of GDP

9. Gender

• Provide financial support for women-led co-operative societies, chamas, merry-go-rounds and table banking initiatives
• Implement the two-thirds gender rule in elective and appointive positions in the public sector within a year after the elections, including 50 per cent cabinet positions for women
• Increase funding for the Anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Board and fully implement the anti-FGM law
• Provide free sanitary towels in all schools and public washrooms

10. Governance

• Complete the transfer of all functions constitutionally earmarked as devolved functions to counties within six months
• Strengthen the Office of the Attorney General
• Audit judicial liabilities and shortcomings within the first three months
• Strengthen police oversight and appoint an Ombudsman to focus on human rights violations of youth
• Appoint all judges nominated by JSC for appointment to the Court of Appeal within seven days
• Establish a Special Tribunal for Gross Human Rights Violations and Enforced Disappearances
• Timely and predictable transfer of sharable revenue to counties
• Establish a quasi-judicial public inquiry to establish the extent of cronyism and State Capture in the nation and make recommendations
• Make organisations doing business with the government to share information about their beneficial owners publicly

11. Security services

• Contributory benevolent fund for families of fallen and terminal ill officers
• Insurance cover for loss of life on duty
• Review and improve pay for all officers in the security sector

12. People With Disabilities (PWDs)

• Ensure 100 per cent NHIF coverage for People With Disabilities within 18 months
• Exempt all assistive devices from import duty and explore possibilities of partnership with domestic manufacturers to produce affordable devices