• In May, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi asked Kenyans to tighten their belts for a three-year economic turmoil.
• In June, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also asked Kenyans to tighten their belts for hard times and expect the economy to improve after two years.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto on Sunday put to rest contradictory information from state officers on the cost of living and Kenya's economic status.
Journalists at a media roundtable held at State House asked him when the cost of living would come down considering his lieutenants were contradicting themselves on the issue.
Ruto said as the President, he had to step in to ensure Kenya does not fall into debt distress which prompted him to make painful decisions.
"I said our economy today is out of distress and that is the truth
For your information, if I wasn't President, the kind of decisions I have made are difficult decisions...very painful decisions that I know will cause pain but it is better we make those decisions now than get Kenya into debt distress," he said.
In May, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi asked Kenyans to tighten their belts for a three-year economic turmoil that has seen skyrocketing prices of essential goods and services.
He said the government would make hard and unpopular decisions, including reduction of the workforce through trimming State corporations to pull the country from economic crises.
“There are a lot of surgeries to be done because the state corporations perform duties that can be done by a few agencies. It is populist’s politics in some enterprises, and it has been undermining the process, but tough decisions shall be made, and we seek your support,” Mudavadi said while in Mombasa.
In June, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua also asked Kenyans to tighten their belts for hard times and expect the economy to improve after two years.
Gachagua who was speaking in Meru said new tax measures proposed in the controversial Finance Act are the only ways to correct the mess he said was occasioned by the previous regime.
He said it is time Kenyans made tough decisions to correct mistakes of the past.
“The greatness of a leader is to make hard decisions. We found a dilapidated economy and empty coffers and President Ruto must make hard decisions to turn around the economy. The little noise is okay for us and in the next two years, Kenyans will know how we endeared to liberate the country,” Gachagua said.
To put the matter to rest but without giving a specific time when the cost of living will come down, Ruto said Kenya was economically stable but had to still navigate rough waters.
The President stated that almost eight countries in Africa are in debt distress which is the worst thing a country can come to.
"All we have done is to avoid jumping from the cliff because we have put breaks in expenditure, we have negotiated a good package with World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and with bilateral countries and that is why I have been on the road," he said.
"It was necessary for me to step in and stabilise so that Kenya doesn't go into debt distress."
In February, National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u conceded that the country’s economy was in a strained status, citing a lack of resources to finance key public expenditure saying the country was broke.
In defence of the CS, President Ruto said Ndung'u was being pushed in Parliament while making the remarks and he was telling the MPs that the government does not have the kind of money they were thinking it has.
"That is the correct position and that is why we are cutting down on some expenditures. It is the difficult decisions we have to make now so that tomorrow looks better," he said.