President William Ruto meets with Marsabit County grassroot leaders at State House Nairobi

Dear citizens of Marsabit, how are you? Marsabit hoyeadafu [applause, cheers] Our airport here was built in, I don't know, 1972. We tried to build another one, they brought noise and all sorts of things. Up to now our airport has a canvas tarmac. We are very embarrassed, but I want to assure you that this July we will start building a new airport. And we have the money to build that airport because we want to change Kenya. Kenya must be changed by development projects and plans, not by insults, not by name-calling, not by all those other things. I am very happy. Let me take this opportunity to welcome for the first time the people from Marsabit County here at State House. You are very welcome. I say welcome again. I know that many people have visited me here at State House from many counties, but I said no matter what, the people of Marsabit must also get here to State House. I went to talk to the people of the EU because there is something called data adequacy that we have been discussing with them so that we can have a sufficient agreement between Kenya and the European Union. We have agreed with them that by September that work will move forward, and by January next year we will have completed it, so that we can expand opportunities for our young people who work in digital networks, digital commerce, business process outsourcing, to ensure that technology and the jobs of the future, you know, the jobs of tomorrow, will depend on technology, will depend on the digital space, and Kenya cannot remain behind. So we have enacted the agreement between Kenya and the European Union. When I was there in Brussels, we agreed on data adequacy, that this will go to the European Parliament in the course of the next two or three months, and hopefully we can clear it by early next year so that we can expand the opportunities in our digital commerce, in data centers, deploying technology, so that we can create more opportunities for the young people of Kenya to work, including those from Marsabit.

I want to thank you very much for your friendship, your partnership, and for the votes you gave me to become president of Kenya. I repeat again and again saying thank you very much for your votes, and I assure you that I will work hard so that the votes you gave me will be beneficial to you and to the citizens of our nation. And that's why I have changed many things. I just want to tell you three or four things, then I will talk about Marsabit matters, and then explain how we will move forward together. First, you gave me the opportunity when we had very big economic problems. We had huge debts. We had problems of inflation. We had many other problems. But I came here, I sat down with those I had given the opportunity to partner with me in the leadership of Kenya, we fixed where there were problems, we reduced the debts that were being borrowed all the time, we brought down inflation. Today as I stand before you here, the economy of Kenya is in a better place than it was in 2022. I also promised you that we would change our healthcare system. Previously, healthcare had become a luxury for those who were employed, those with jobs, those who had the means, yet everyone gets sick. So I said we are changing the healthcare system. We want every Kenyan to have access to treatment. Previously there was the NHIF program. NHIF required you to have a job, you had to have money, you had to have the ability to pay. Today I have said that every Kenyan should be registered in SHAIWE, regardless of money. Whether they have a job or not, whether they have means or not. Every citizen of our nation Kenya. The Constitution of Kenya requires the government to ensure that every Kenyan gets access to treatment. It is not necessary to have a job. It is not necessary to have means. It is not necessary to have money. It is your right as a Kenyan to get treatment. And I am happy we have united with counties, we have united with all other stakeholders. Today those who were registered in NHIF were about 31 million people registered in health insurance. And our goal is to ensure that no Kenyan will again sell their farm, their cow, their camel, their goat to pay hospital bills. We want hospital costs to be paid by the health insurance managed by the government. Our nation Kenya will change. I am very confident that this Kenya will become a very significant country. And if you hear that we will become a first world country in this generation, don't worry. We will become a first world. Yes. Listen. I went to Norway recently and I had the opportunity to speak with the Prime Minister of Norway. I had the opportunity to speak with the Finance Minister of Norway. Norway is a country that has a sovereign wealth fund worth over a trillion. And they built that wealth. Right now in Kenya we are finishing building Kenya's sovereign wealth fund. Perhaps I will launch it in the next one or two months. So that even we can start organizing ourselves like others did, to find wealth that will help us run our development projects and eradicate poverty in our nation Kenya. Do you understand me? Because you know, leadership is important. Those who organized themselves, today countries like South Korea, Singapore, Norway, that other country Malaysia, were together with us 60 years ago. Today they are first world, yet we are still struggling down here. The difference is leadership. So if we organize ourselves well and make good decisions, we will change this Kenya. And it is my intention to ensure that we change this Kenya. People must be honest. On education, we have streamlined it well because I believe that we do not want even one child in Kenya to miss the opportunity to study. And I ask you, people of Marsabit, with great respect. You as pastoralists, please, we are putting a lot of money into educating our children. Do not accept as a parent. Some children go to school. Your child, you have gone and told them to go herd goats, go herd cows, go herd camels. That sets you back and sets back our nation Kenya. Every child should be in school, and we have instructed chiefs, assistant chiefs, village elders, and starting this July, even the elders of the ten-house units will now be given a small allowance so that they can push the government's agenda and ensure that all our children are in school.

I am very happy. Let me take this opportunity to welcome for the first time the people from Marsabit County here at State House. You are very welcome. I say welcome again. I know that many people have visited me here at State House from many counties, but I said no matter what, the people of Marsabit must also get here to State House. This State House is yours just as it is for all other Kenyans. And my joy is that today people from Marsabit County, people from far away Sololo, people from Maikona, I don't know, Dukana, Loyangalani, I don't know, people from Ileret are here. Yes, I see the people from Ileret are in the area. Those who used to call me names, one day they will come to surrender, isn't it? Yes. Some called me Zacchaeus, I don't know Zacchaeus. They called me Zacchaeus. Is it not those young people, 640 are working in affordable housing? Are we not building 500 markets in Kenya? Are we not building 180 hostels for our youth? Should we continue or should we continue? You say we should continue or should we continue? We continue. They were saying it was impossible. On agriculture matters, I told them we would change agriculture, they said it was a lie. Today fertilizer was 7,000, now it is 2,500. Maize we used to produce 40 million bags, now we produce 70 million. The price of coffee was 50 shillings, now it is 120. Should we continue or should we stop? Do we understand each other? That's what we are doing. And that's how Kenya is changing. Those who pretend they want to compete with us are people who are very low. They are low, they are down. Listen, let me explain to you, people of Marsabit, do we understand each other? Yes. But let me say that there are things the governor of yours, and I have spoken with all these leaders. I have spoken with all these leaders and we have been discussing Marsabit matters and how we are planning things for Marsabit. There are about four important things you have asked me. The first thing is your roads. On your roads. You know there is a road we started before the last election, the road from Marsabit to Segel. That Segel road was stuck. I have paid 1.4 billion shillings to unblock that road and ensure it is completed. We also have a second road that was started to Sparrow's town. It was also stuck. I have given 1.8 billion shillings to unblock that road and ensure we complete it.

In 2022, Kenya was listed among the countries that would fail to pay its debts, one of six countries that were expected to default on their foreign financial obligations. But I said as president of Kenya, it will not happen. And God has blessed us. Of the six countries that were listed as expected to fail to pay debts, only Kenya made it out of the six. Five countries defaulted. It's only Kenya that did not default. And today, our economy, we have worked hard. It is the sixth largest economy in Africa. We have reduced inflation. We have reduced exchange rates. The dollar was 160 something, now the dollar is 129. We have made sure our economy is stable. The foreign currency we have, called Foreign Exchange Reserves, was 5.7 billion, today it is 13 billion that we have. So Kenya's economy is more stable than we were in 2022, and that is the correct position. And it is because I told you we would plan the economy, because if we don't plan the economy, Kenya will go to a place that is not good. We have employed 100,000 teachers in the last 3 years. Listen, people of Marsabit. No government has employed 100,000 teachers in 3 years since independence. In other words, of the teachers we have, 400,000 in Kenya, 100,000 we have hired in the last 3 years. Why? What reason have we done this? Because education is important. It brings equality. Every Kenyan child going to school must meet a teacher. We have built 23,000 classrooms to ensure there are enough learning spaces. We have ensured that the funding model for our children takes care of every Kenyan child. Even those children from poor communities get equal opportunity when going to university, when going to TVET, because we have increased the money for educating our children. The budget was read yesterday. Yesterday the budget was read. The money we have increased for our children's education in 2022 was 500 billion. The budget read yesterday is 767 billion that we have added to ensure our children study. Sometimes you hear some people say, oh, there is a crisis in education. You know, you wonder how is there a crisis in education today when we have hired 100,000 teachers, when we have increased the budget of education from 500 million to 767 million, when we have built an additional 23,000 classrooms, when we have straightened the CBC into now a competence-based education and training, and when we have enhanced our budget for our university education, especially help, from 18 billion shillings to 56 billion shillings.