...ization of the high calling I assume as President of the Republic of Kenya, do swear that I'll be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Republic of Kenya, that I'll obey, preserve, protect, and defend this Constitution of Kenya as by law established and all other laws of the republic, and that I'll protect and uphold the sovereignty, integrity, and dignity of the people of Kenya." Our conversation this afternoon, Your Excellency, with permission from the honorable panelists, I just wanted to make it very short: accountability. Accountability for these high offices. At the end of this, the program has you coming to make your closing remarks, so we'll not even do the closing remarks. We'll just do quick accountability for the person and the office that you hold. What have you done to uphold the constitution, Your Excellency? You swore to obey, preserve, protect, and defend this Constitution of Kenya. Are you aware, sir, that your cabinet is unconstitutional?
Thank you very much, Eric. I am fully aware that the court has made a determination and given me time, realizing that that is work in progress, to be able to do what I need to do. But in that context, let me speak to my oath of office in a broader context and speak to this day, Katiba Day. And as I have said in my earlier statement, this is not just a ritual. This is a time for us to reflect and account for what we have done in 16 years with respect to the tenets, the principles, the mandates, and the requirements of our constitution. Putting that in the context of my oath of office and being accountable for that oath of office, and putting it in the context of what again I said earlier in terms of how do we account for the authority that we exercise and whether that is making impact on the people of Kenya, especially on what you said, whether more and more citizens are closer to the rights that the constitution envisaged.
I will say the following: that by way of accountability, when we seek a mandate like the way I did, I made commitments to the people of Kenya. And those commitments were not just statements. They were not just slogans. They were commitments that ultimately I must be held to account, because that is what the constitution demands of me as president. I would want to put it in this context. Number one, I made commitments about how to transform the nation and what I need to do. And I made proposals to the people of Kenya that this is how I intend to stabilize the economy; this is how I intend to make sure that we have access to health getting to the majority of citizens; this is how I intend to work on making sure that there is decent housing, as is required by the constitution; this is how education, that is provided for as an obligation to government in the constitution, this is what we are going to do; this is how we are going to work on access to water and all the other requirements of the constitution.
And I can confidently tell the nation today that subsequent to my election and my commitment that I will be faithful to the constitution, we have done whatever we needed to do, difficult as it may have been, to stabilize our economy. Today, our economy is the sixth largest economy in Africa. Our interest rates have come down. Our exchange rates have come down and stabilized. Our inflation has come down and stabilized. And our sovereign debt position is way different from what it was. We did not only avoid the default, we've gone ahead to create a much more stable economy.
Allow me to bring you back to my question.
Yeah, just let me, so that I don't lose my train of thought.
Let me say that often I have been asked, "You committed yourself that you will reduce debt and borrowing," and I want to answer that question in this forum. Because prudent management of public resources is part of accountability, is part of accounting by leaders. Sometimes we reduce accountability to just be about corruption and those other things, which are fundamental, but the worst form of corruption is to make a commitment that you have no intention of keeping.
And so when I made a commitment that we are going to think of how to develop our country without burdening ourselves with too much borrowing or debt, and sometimes disproportionately disadvantaging generations that come after us—
I can say on this podium today, if you look at where we were in terms of debt and where we are today, we have significantly, by multiples, reduced the rate of acquisition of debt in our country. Let me give you an example. When Moi left office, we had a sovereign debt of 630 billion. That is what Kibaki inherited. In 10 years, Kibaki took that sovereign debt to 1.8 trillion. That is three times, by a multiple of three roughly. When my brother President Uhuru left office in 2022, he left behind a debt of 10.3 trillion. It had grown by five times, 500% in 10 years. In my 5 years, that debt has grown from 10.3 trillion to 13 trillion. In 5 years, that debt has not grown by multiples; it has grown by 27%. And therefore, the commitment I made that while we will continue to invest and develop our country, we will do it in such a manner that we reduce on borrowing, we reduce on debt, and we grow our economy sustainably. So I'm just giving an example of how accountable one must be.
So back to my question, sir.
I will come to your question, just—
