- When he took office on September 13, 2022, the cost of a 2 kg bag of Maize flour was trading at Sh250 with subsidies on the staple not helping either.
- The average wholesale price of maize per bag also dropped from Sh4,729 to Sh3,980, representing a 25.8 per cent reduction.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto’s administration has highlighted key achievements over the last two years, with leaps in the economy topping items on the scorecard.
A recent report by the African Development Bank revealed that Kenya’s economy grew 5.2 per cent in 2023, up from 4.8 per cent in 2022, as agriculture rebounded, and services grew moderately.
On the supply side, services accounted for 69 per cent of the growth and agriculture for 23 per cent while on the demand side, household consumption accounted for 70 per cent.
The same report says Kenya’s GDP is projected to grow 5.4 per cent in 2024 and 5.6 per cent in 2025, driven by services and household consumption.
Despite recent opinion polls showing that the majority of Kenyans feel that the country’s economy is headed in the wrong direction, Ruto’s government argues that Kenyans are better off.
The government says its massive interventions in various sectors have created multiplier effects that have reduced the cost of living that had pushed Kenyans to the cliff ahead of the 2022 polls.
President Ruto was elected on a radical economic transformation agenda underpinned by the Bottom Up Economic Transformation model that promised to empower the country’s poor through deliberate government interventions.
One of Ruto’s pet projects, which he said would revolutionise the country’s economy, was the subsidised fertiliser programme whose end result was to reduce the cost of living.
When he took office on September 13, 2022, the cost of a 2 kg bag of Maize flour was trading at Sh250 with subsidies on the staple not helping either.
Immediately upon assuming office, Ruto scrapped subsidies in Unga and instead rolled out an ambitious subsidised fertiliser project as part of the government’s long-term plan to reduce food prices.
The government says that since the launch of the programme, the number of fertiliser bags distributed to farmers has risen by 7.2 million bags from 1.4 million in 2022 to 8.6 million by 2024.
This represents a 514 per cent increase in the demand for the commodity.
The cost per bag of fertiliser has decreased by Sh3,500 per bag from Sh6,000 in 2022 to Sh2,500 in 2024, representing a 58 per cent cost reduction.
Consequently, maize production increased by 24 million bags from 61.74 million bags in 2022 to 85.7 million in 2023, representing a 38.9 per cent rise in production of a 50kg bag of maize.
“The subsidy programme has lowered flour shelf costs by an average of Sh39.5, with the price of a 2kg packet of maize flour falling from an average of Sh169.9 in 2022 to Sh130.38 in 2024 representing a 23.3 per cent reduction,” the government says in its scorecard report.
The average wholesale price of maize per bag also dropped from Sh4,729 to Sh3,980, representing a 25.8 per cent reduction.
Further, the state removed VAT on the government on tea purchased from local factories for value addition.
The government has supported MSMEs by providing equipment for production.
These efforts have increased smallholder farmer earnings by 15.8 per cent, from Sh59.2 in 2022 to Sh64 in 2024.
To reduce imports and reduce the cost of edible oil, the government has distributed 556 tonnes of sunflower seeds to 34 counties.
This has resulted in an 8.3 per cent increase in the acreage under sunflower farming, from 60,000 acres in 2022 to 64,980 acres in 2024.
The government has raised the guaranteed minimum price for milk from Sh37 in 2022 to Sh50 per litre in 2024, representing a 35 per cent increase.
As a result, milk production has grown by 13 per cent from 4.6 billion litres in 2022 to 5.2 billion litres in 2024.
Under the affordable housing programme, the number of units has increased from 8,872 in 2022 to 103,000 in 2024.
This is an increase of 94,128 units representing a 1,061 per cent increase since 2022.
“The construction of the affordable housing units is currently ongoing in 40 counties with Nairobi leading with 33,810 units. Plans are underway to extend the units to all the 47 counties,” the report says.
The state says the total number of jobs created in the affordable housing project has increased from 26,616 in 2022 to 140,610 in 2024.
“The number of mortgages refinanced has increased from 2,522 in 2022 to 3,527 in 2024. This is an increase of 1,005 mortgages representing a 40 per cent increase since 2022,” the government said.
To support the micro, small and medium enterprises, the state refurbished and equipped 21 county industrial development centres between 2022 and 2024.
They include leather value chains in Suneka, Isiolo South, Malindi, Runyenjes and Banisa.
Others are textile value chains in Mwea, Kitale, Olkalau and Embakasi North.
The government has also commenced the process of constructing 19 county aggregation industrial parks countrywide.
The state has also distributed Sh54.9 billion through the hustler fund to 21.87 million individuals who have since saved Sh3.1 billion in the process.
“Additionally, 673,340 groups have so far subscribed and are benefiting from the fund which has disbursed Sh185.8 million to them,” the report states.
The new Level 4 hospitals are in Naro Moru, Ugenya, Keroka, Endebes, Kibugwa and Lusigetti.
The number of Level 5 and 6 hospitals has increased by two from 13 in 2022 to 15 in 2024, an increase of 15 per cent. They are Kerugoya (Level 5) and Margaret Kenyatta (Level 6).
“The number of registered medical officers has increased by 4,939 from 10,882 in 2022 to 15,821 in 2024, an increase of 45 per cent,” the report shows.
On digital expressway and creative economy, the government has digitised 20,505 more services from 2022, increasing revenue by 7.45 billion per month.
The number of youths being employed through the Ajira and Jitume digital jobs programmes has increased by 122,711. This is from 30,000 in 2022 to 152,711 in 2024 an increase of 409 per cent.
The scorecard, compiled by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Performance Delivery Management Eliud Owalo comes in the wake of youth-led protests, driven largely by a growing sense of disenfranchisement over the government’s apparent broken promises.
It also comes ahead of a planned signing of performance contracts for new Cabinet secretaries, Ruto’s plan of ensuring efficiency in his administration. The President, sworn in on September 13, 2022, is banking on the scorecard to evaluate the performance of his ministers.
On the MSME economy, the report touts Ruto’s Hustler Fund and the refurbishment and equipping of “common user facilities” and industrial parks as key achievements.