National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John
Mbadi has reaffirmed his loyalty to President William Ruto citing the trust and
confidence placed in him to lead the docket.
Mbadi was speaking at Ndhiwa Kenya Medical Training College
(KMTC) grounds in Homa Bay County on Tuesday during a stakeholders meeting to discuss development matters of the region.
“The President can give you any ministry but not the Ministry of Finance. The kind of confidence and the risk that he (Ruto) took to
appoint me makes it very difficult for me to betray him,” Mbadi said.
Mbadi vowed to focus on delivering results over political
debates.
“And therefore, mine is not to force people and chest thump
that President Ruto should get another term. We are not in that debate as at now,” Mbadi added.
He emphasised his commitment to resolving pressing financial
challenges rather than engaging in discussions about future political
campaigns.
‘What I want is to work for him (Ruto), to make things that are not
working work. Once we have corrected and made things work, we will come and tell
Kenyans that we want you to give us another opportunity to continue working,”
Mbadi said.
Mbadi noted
significant reductions in Kenya's budget deficit and currency stabilization.
“When I took over as the CS for Finance, there were
challenges in this country. These challenges were better but were not as bad as
when the last regime left office when the budget of Kenya to GDP was 8.1 per
cent. As we speak, we are reducing it to 4.3 per cent and next year it will be
3.8 per cent and in the next two years the budget deficit must be below 3 per
cent,” Mbadi stated.
He also addressed the volatility of the Kenyan shilling,
which traded as high as Sh160 against the US dollar earlier this year.
Currently, the shilling has stabilized at Sh129 per dollar.
According to Mbadi, government borrowing has decreased by 1.5 per cent since he assumed office.
