President William Ruto's administration has
launched a coordinated government-wide push to unlock stalled projects days
after the Controller of Budget flagged delayed programmes in her latest report.
Over the past week, the government has rolled out
an intensive programme of sector reviews, project inspections, county
consultations and inter-ministerial coordination meetings to discuss various
projects.
On Friday, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki chaired
separate high-level reviews of the roads and water sectors at Harambee House
Annex, where the emphasis was firmly on implementation.
In the roads sector, the DP announced the government had cleared Sh177 billion
in pending bills owed to contractors for projects that stalled during the
2020–2021 period.
Kindiki said this has enabled the national roads
programme to resume.
He added that Sh270 billion has been paid to road
contractors over the past year, with works currently underway on about 8,000km of bitumen roads across all 47 counties.
He also announced that the Sh155 billion
modernisation of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport had commenced this week.
In a separate meeting on the water sector, Kindiki
said the proposed National Infrastructure Fund would finance construction of 50
mega dams and 200 medium-sized dams. Many of them have remained on the drawing
board because of financing constraints.
The projects, he said, are expected to bring an
additional 2.5 million acres under irrigation, supporting agricultural
production and strengthening national food security.
While President Ruto focused on strategic
infrastructure, Kindiki has increasingly assumed responsibility for
coordinating implementation across ministries.
On Thursday, Kindiki also chaired a joint Cabinet committee meeting that reviewed progress in
agriculture, energy, ICT, labour and security, with discussions centred on
accelerating delivery of government priorities in key sectors of the economy.
Chief of Staff and head of public service Felix
Koskei has also intensified oversight of ministries with a focus on project
delivery.
On Wednesday, Koskei chaired the Fourth Principal
Secretaries Forum of 2026, where PSs reviewed implementation of presidential
directives, assessed progress made since previous meetings and agreed on
measures to accelerate delivery.
The same day, he led PSs on inspection tours of
priority government projects in Nairobi, including the City Cotton Trunk Sewer
and River training project and the nearly complete Kamukunji recreation park.
He also met leaders from Nandi county to review the
status of national government projects, receive feedback on implementation
challenges and pledge intervention to remove bottlenecks.
PSs have similarly been deployed to monitor
projects and engage stakeholders on the ground.
Energy PS Alex Wachira was on Friday in Kajiado
Central, where he assured business leaders the government would accelerate electricity
connectivity and expand street lighting to stimulate enterprise and investment.
“As government, I reaffirmed my commitment to
accelerating electricity connectivity and expanding street lighting across our
trading centres as key interventions to support businesses and stimulate
economic growth,” Wachira said.
His Housing counterpart Charles Hinga has also
highlighted progress on flagship urban renewal projects.
This include the redevelopment of Kamukunji recreation
park and the Webuye economic stimulus programme market in Bungoma county, which he said is now 95 per cent complete.
The renewed focus on implementation comes just days
after the CoB report for the last nine months showed delayed execution across
several flagship programmes under the Kenya Kwanza administration.
The CoB found that despite billions of shillings
being allocated, many flagship projects remain significantly behind schedule.
This was
attributed to procurement bottlenecks, funding constraints, poor contractor
performance and technical challenges associated with the Electronic Government
Procurement system.
Several projects had either recorded minimal
progress or no expenditure at all, despite receiving budget allocations.
The report showed that some of the government's
signature projects, including affordable housing, manufacturing facilities,
agricultural value-addition initiatives, transport infrastructure and logistics
projects, remain well behind schedule despite substantial public investment.
Affordable housing, the flagship of the Kenya
Kwanza administration, had reached only 24 per cent completion by the end of
March.
The Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone stood at just
14 per cent completion, with several other strategic programmes similarly
lagging behind.
With barely a year before the 2027 election and as
the campaign season gathers full momentum, President Ruto’s delivery of the
projects remains a key priority having declared he will fullfill his pledges,
and his re-election will be determined by his delivery.
