United Democratic Alliance leaders in Teso North have assured President William Ruto of their support as he begins his five-year term as head of state.
The leaders, at the same time, asked the President to expedite the allocation and subsequent disbursement of the hustler fund to boost struggling businesses run by ordinary Kenyans.
They said the fund which the Kenya Kwanza leader promised during campaigns will go a long way in accelerating business activity in the country and improve the rate at which money circulates in the economy.
The UDA Teso North subcounty leaders who included Maurice Chetambe (coordinator), Mary Okedi (interim chairperson) and Andrew Edukata (youth leader) spoke to the Star on Saturday in an interview.
Chetambe said members of the Teso community in Teso North will wholly support President Ruto’s administration.
“As a community we vividly and fondly remember that you visited and campaigned with us on several occasions. Also, it is not lost on us as the Iteso that you have in the past stood with us on issues of development for which we owe you a huge debt of gratitude,” Chetambe said.
“Given that the election period is now behind us, and you are settling into the all-important business of governing our beloved country we would like to assure you of our support and readiness to push for the implementation of your development agenda at the grassroots.”
He said as supporters of the President in Teso North, the commander in chief’s followers are eagerly waiting for the disbursement of the hustler fund which Ruto promised during campaigns ahead of the August 9 general election.
He said many small-scale traders in the subcounty are counting on the fund to boost their businesses at residents are grappling with high cost of living.
“There is a lot that we are expecting from the President because we know him as somebody who fulfils his promises,” Chetambe, the former Angurai North ward MCA said.
“We signed an economic charter with him and we expect him to do a lot for us.”
Okedi on her part assured the President of the support of women in the subcounty.
“As women in Teso North, we have walked with the President since 2013 and we are happy with the agenda that he has for the country,” the former Teso North Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation chairperson said.
“We are happy as women because we have the right President. We are waiting for the hustler fund which he promised us so that we boost our businesses.”
Edukata said the President is a leader who appreciates the youth in all his development plans.
The youth leader said it is time President Ruto understands that millions of youth have gone to school but are yet to get employment.
He said availing the hustler fund will enable young people who are not employed to start business, earn a living and fend for their families.
“The President is somebody who appreciates the youth. Since Kenya attained independence, it is President Ruto who has fully recognised the youth in a special way. That is why the youth actively took part in campaigns to ensure Kenya gets a President in him,” Edukata said.
“The youth should not be left out in the hustler fund because millions of them have certificates in their houses but are unemployed. Our appeal to the President is that he should not forget us. Let him get the youth on board as he begins the journey of serving Kenyans until 2027.”
In July at the height of Presidential campaigns, Ruto unveiled an ambitious manifesto that allocated billions to ‘hustlers’, anchoring what he called the most realistic model to end Kenya’s economic crisis.
Ruto then said Kenya’s economic turnaround lies in radical reforms in agriculture and transforming micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs.
His economic blueprint emphasised empowering the economically underprivileged through what he calls the bottom-up economic model.
He said at the time that mega projects such as the standard gauge railway, the Nairobi Expressway and dams have very little multiplier effect on the economy.
He also said manufacturing was inordinately capital-intensive and not sufficiently job creating.
“We have recently inaugurated a firearms factory that cost Sh4 billion and celebrated the fact that it will create 100 or so jobs,” Ruto said.
“This works out to an investment of Sh40 million per job,” he said, criticising the project initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
To economically empower ‘hustlers’, Ruto promised to provide Sh50 billion per year to fund small businesses and start-ups.
An extra Sh250 billion he said ahead of the August polls will be injected in the agricultural sector, an industry he described as the foundation of the economy.