NO JOKES! President Ruto roars in Kiserian, Kajiado, Lectures the opposition badly

Alright. I will be brief because my fellow leaders have spoken at length. I want to say thank you very much. I thank God for giving us the opportunity to come here to Kajiado today for this special service, which is also linked to the fundraising for the construction of the FDA church headquarters in this area. I want to say that my brother Honorable Odinga came to me with Mr. Kawino, who is a member of your church. They asked me to come and join the Christians of this area. I asked Dr. Oburu if he is an SDA member; he told me that the SDA member is Kawino, and this Kawino has been in the ODM party for a long time as the treasurer. You know that all of us, including me, have a history with ODM, so he was our right-hand man in those days. Now he has become a big person. When they said I should come and join the Christians in this service and in this contribution, I said I will come here first because of the friendship and brotherhood I have with the SDA church. I have a long history with the SDA church. We have built churches together with you in Migori, in Kisumu, in Eldoret. I have gone to many places to collaborate with this SDA church. Even here, when you were buying this land, I contributed. When you were doing other things, I contributed. Today I have come in person, and it is because of our faith in Almighty God, not because of human honor. It is because first we recognize that Christ died for me and for many others. And that is why when we come to church, when we work together to fundraise for the building of a sanctuary, we do so first and foremost as Christians, and then everything else thereafter. So I am very happy to join with you, and I have said before and I will say again, I am unapologetically a Christian. I believe in God and I have no apologies to make. Those who are troubled by those words, I don't know how we can help them, because we will continue because we are Christians, and our nation Kenya, all communities and all people, are God-fearing, even though we have different denominations and different faiths, but we all unite in honoring and worshiping God. And that is how this nation will continue. It is my prayer that Kenya continues to be a country that recognizes Almighty God. The first article of our constitution says 'God of creation' – that is the constitution of Kenya, and therefore we are a God-fearing nation. We will continue to work with all faiths, with every denomination, as we serve God and as we serve humanity. I was very grateful when I was sitting there and this strong lion told me, 'This yellow you see here is not from UDA; this yellow is from Pathfinders and it is the color of the church.' I asked him, 'How do you know if there is a relationship between UDA and the SDA church?' Maybe there is a relationship, you don't say too much. And I am very happy about the relationship that exists between the SDA church and the government of Kenya, and all other churches and the government of Kenya, because the citizens who are Christians, who are God-fearing, are also the citizens of our nation Kenya. I am also happy that I got this opportunity. This function was placed in my diary about four months ago, and I have had many activities, but I said I must honor this and come. I know many people wonder why the president came from abroad and went to meet with people in Marsabit, then went to Kakamega, and now he is in Kajiado – where will he be? That is the work I decided to do. I sought the work of the president. I sought that work because I believe God has a reason for making me the leader of our nation Kenya at this time. My intention is to fulfill and ensure that I have worked hard so that God's will is done in our nation and that Kenya can change. Many people do not want to work hard. I know many people have opportunities but maybe due to lack of planning, they become slack and lazy. I recognize that there must be a reason God has made me president of Kenya at a time like this. That is why I go the extra mile. I do my very best to make sure that Kenya becomes a country we can all be proud of. So don't worry about me. Others might say perhaps this person should go on holiday or something. If you want to go on holiday, go on holiday. That is fine. I have work to do, and my diary is full six months ahead every day. But it is because this country's transformation requires hard work. We are late. There were countries we were equal to 60 years ago. Korea was like Kenya. Singapore was like Kenya. Malaysia was like Kenya. But they have left us behind because we have slowed down and failed to accelerate our development. We must work the extra mile to ensure that Kenya catches up with those we were with and perhaps even surpass them. And God has blessed us. I want to say this: God has blessed our nation Kenya. We are making progress, demonstrable progress, and we have had God's favor. In 2023, when I got the opportunity to lead our nation, I held the first meeting on the African continent called the Africa Climate Summit. We had a big conference of presidents from all countries of our continent Africa, and we agreed on how we will move forward with the challenges we face, climate change, lack of rain on time or in season. We had a comprehensive plan. Later, we were the first country in our continent Africa to get an opportunity to speak with the United States. I became the first president in 20 years from the African continent to go to the US to discuss Kenyan matters with the US government. Then recently, we were the first Anglophone country to hold a meeting of our African continent called Africa Forward. This May, we had 33 presidents here and we planned how our continent Africa will move forward to reduce poverty, increase wealth, and use the resources we have in this continent to help the people. Africa should no longer be a continent of disasters, wars, poverty, and disease. We have a different paradigm shift in our continent. Tomorrow, I will also go to represent the African continent – 54 presidents, 54 countries – at the G7 meeting to plan how this African continent will send its message, with Kenya leading, on how we will use our resources, our capacity, the resources we have, the land we have, and the population we have to contribute to ensuring our continent Africa changes, and also to have relationships with others – not relationships that benefit them alone, but relationships that benefit all of us. So I am very proud that we have made progress. God has blessed us. The favor of God on our nation Kenya. We have made strides and we will continue moving forward. That is why I am telling you as Christians: thank you very much for your fellowship, your support, and your prayers for our nation Kenya. From where we were in 2022, God has blessed us. We are in a better place in 2026. The challenges we had, God has blessed us and we have solved them, and we are moving forward as a nation. Just yesterday, our budget was read by our finance minister, and we clearly explained the steps we have taken. I gave examples: we will change our agriculture. In this recent budget, we increased funding for agriculture to 63 billion shillings. We increased subsidies for seeds, fertilizers, coffee seedlings, sugarcane seedlings, and maize seeds. The fertilizer that was being sold at a high price we have regulated, so it is now a fair price, and we have seen a big difference. In 2022, maize flour was 250 shillings per kilo; today it is 120-140, and we will continue that way. God has blessed us with rain. That is why we believe in God. In this budget that we passed, which was read in parliament, we also said education is important, and I told Kenyans that we will change our education system so that it benefits us going forward. In our recent budget, we increased education funding to 784 billion shillings. In 2022, education funding was 500 billion. Last year it was 702 billion. We increased by 80 billion in one year because education is important, and we do not want any Kenyan child, regardless of their background, to miss the opportunity to study. Education is important to us. The countries that have progressed – Korea, Japan, Singapore, and others – invested in education. That is why education is important. In that education budget, we have set aside money for teacher promotions, and to retrain over 100,000 teachers so they can teach our children properly. We have allocated 93 billion shillings for universities and TVET to ensure there are enough scholarships and capitation. You know that previously we were giving 45 billion shillings for capitation and loans, and we had huge problems with our universities. We have increased the money going to our Higher Education Loans Board, scholarships, and capitation from 45 billion in 2022 to 93 billion in this year's budget because we want all our universities to be stable and all our children in universities to have access to loans and scholarships. We have said that children from poor families will get scholarships and 90% loans to ensure their parents pay a small amount at the university. Every Kenyan child must have an opportunity to study, and that is what we have done in this budget. We have also set aside enough money for healthcare because healthcare is important. Article 43 of the constitution says health is a right for every Kenyan, not a luxury for those who have money or jobs. I want to say this as we move forward: we have set aside money to pay for every Kenyan when they go to hospital. In our budget, the Primary Health Care Fund has been increased to 19 billion shillings. That money ensures that when a citizen goes to a dispensary or health center, they get treatment, medicine, and can go home without paying a single shilling. I want to ask hospitals – and I want Kenyans to hear this – whether it is a mission hospital, private hospital, or government hospital run by counties, if you have registered under SHA, you will not be charged a single shilling. You go home, and the government pays the hospital costs. I know some hospitals are still charging citizens. A citizen goes there and is asked to pay a certain amount. I want to tell citizens: do not agree to pay any money when you go to hospital. The government has set aside money to pay hospital costs. Thirdly, we have had major problems with the availability of medicines in hospitals. I thank the two governors here – Governor Lenku and Governor Gladys – I want to ask our brothers the governors. We set aside 10 billion KEMSA last year. This year in our budget, we have added another 21 billion to KEMSA to ensure there are enough medicines for every Kenyan. When a Kenyan goes to hospital, they should be treated and given medicine, not told to go buy medicine elsewhere. No, the medicine should be given at the dispensary or hospital because we have decided we do not want any Kenyan to sell their land, cattle, or livestock to pay hospital costs. We want that to be covered by the government of Kenya. And why are we doing this? We are doing it because we are pursuing equality. It is a commitment I made to the people of Kenya because that is how progressive countries do their business, and that is where Kenya is going. I also want to ask my fellow governors with respect: we have set aside 8.9 billion shillings in the budget to help you with the 74,000 workers called WHCs who are in your hospitals working on contract. These workers – nurses and others – we want them to become permanent and pensionable. We have provided the money for these workers to be made permanent because they contribute a large part of our nation's healthcare. People of Kajiado, I decided to take this opportunity to say these words because they concern us. They concern Christians because their children are in school, and their people go to hospitals. They concern us in Kajiado. There are matters I have discussed with your leaders, and every time I meet them we talk about these things, but when they come here they must also speak. I hear that if they don't speak, they will be asked, 'Were you there? You went to the microphone and didn't say all these things that people have said here.' We had already talked and agreed on how that work will continue, and they know. First, you know we had roads that were stalled here. The road from Cooperative to Bulbul to Ongata Rongai to Nazarene University, about 65 kilometers, we have mobilized the contractor and work is ongoing. We have set aside 500-600 million shillings in the budget to push that work. The road from Ngong to Suswa, we have completed – there was a small section remaining. The road that has bothered us for about 10 years from Elasit to Njukini to Tabeta – the contractor is moving like a bullet. 20 kilometers of the about 65 kilometers have already been tarmacked, the rest is ongoing. We have set aside nearly 4 billion shillings for that work. Mama Maimei has spoken the truth about this road from Kajiado to Mashuru to Elasit... The road from Mashuru to Elasit – I want to tell the Honorable Member that we have 5 million shillings to upgrade that road, and it starts next week. You asked me and I agreed and have prepared the money. This Sunguya came to me and said there is a place called Picnic in Olerai... That road too, we have set aside the money and found a contractor. We will repair your road. We have another road from Ngong to Kibiko to a place called Kangira or something. That road too, we have set aside money and it will proceed. We have a contractor ready. I also want to tell you that going to Nairobi is a big challenge. From Bomas to Ongata Rongai, Bomas to Ngong, there are problems. I have told the ministry to include the road from Rongai, Kiserian to Nairobi in the National Infrastructure Fund plan so we can dualize it. We will put it in our plan, and they are now doing research and gathering information to know how we will do that road. But I must admit, these leaders are representatives of the people. It is true we still have many roads that need to be fixed. It is not only here in Kajiado; all over Kenya. When I go to other areas, we still have muddy roads. And do you know why? It is because we have not had a comprehensive plan for road construction. We have been doing management by crisis – fixing 5 kilometers here, 20 kilometers there. That is not how we will solve the roads question in Kenya. We need a clear Marshall Plan. That is why I proposed to Parliament the National Infrastructure Fund because we have to think beyond current problems. I sent it to Parliament and it was passed. The first money we got from Kenya Pipeline is 100 billion shillings. I am looking for another 200 billion so that we can have a program that will solve this road problem in our nation. Kenya has 20,000 kilometers of tarmac road. That is a lot compared to our neighbors, but if you compare with others, we are still behind. Japan, which is smaller than Kenya, has 1 million kilometers of tarmac. 1 million km, yet ours is 20,000. You see the difference? So in the next six years, by God's will, we must build 28,000 kilometers of tarmac. We have started that journey through the National Infrastructure Fund, which will help us put government money, private sector money, investor money, and other funds into these roads. When these leaders talk about wanting a road to 46, a road to Magadi, and all these roads they have mentioned, I tell them to put those roads on the priority list because that is where we are headed. Not only in Kajiado but all over Kenya. That is how we will solve the transport and logistics issue in Kenya. We cannot solve it with these piecemeal efforts. The fund will also help us connect electricity. We do not have enough electricity in Kenya. We have 3,000-3,300 MW. We need 15,000 MW. So we need another 10,000 in the next five to six years. I have told the responsible person to hasten. The National Infrastructure Fund will also help with that. The third thing we must do is ensure we produce enough food. We must build dams and irrigation to produce enough food. Many Kenyans still do not have enough food. 60 years after independence, it is not right that we cannot feed our citizens. These are the plans we have put in place. I know when I said we will reform education, reform agriculture, implement the SHA system, and build housing, many people said it is not possible. They said Ruto is a liar. But today, in Kenya, we have reformed education: we have hired 100,000 teachers, increased the education budget. We have reformed healthcare. The housing program I talked about is ongoing everywhere. In Kajiado County alone, we have set aside 23 billion shillings for housing, markets, and hostels. Hear our members of parliament speaking: markets at 60% completion here and there. We are building 16 markets in Kajiado County: Kiserian market, Ngong market, Kajiado Town market worth nearly 300 million, and Litokitok market. We have housing – look at the many houses being built in Ngong. When I said we would build, others said it was a lie. Now we will shame them and show them it is possible as long as there is a plan. That is how we will change our nation. Right now we are building nearly 300 houses and moving forward. I want to assure you that by the grace of God, we will transform Kenya together. That is why I decided with my brother Raila Odinga and these leaders to form a broad-based government to unite Kenyans and bring everyone together. That is why we are moving forward. I want to appeal to our colleagues, even in competition, let us not create hatred, tribalism, or insults. Let everyone explain themselves, tell us their vision, plans, policies, and agenda. Kenyans are mature; they will know which agenda will succeed and which will not. That is how we will move the country forward. I ask all of us who have leadership positions: there is no need for hatred, no need to divide citizens. Politics that divides citizens is politics that will take us backwards. I hear some people are running politics full of malice, hatred, insults, and tribalism. You hear someone say, 'Oh, these ones have shares, these ones don't,' 'these are tungati, these are tunia,' 'these are up-country, these are from the coast,' 'these are coins, these are enemies.' That language will destroy our nation Kenya. There is no need to divide people. Just tell us your policies, your plan. You say this housing program is not good? It is good. You say this universal health coverage plan is not good? You want to take us back to NHIF that covered only a few people. Now I ask you: between 8 million and 31 million, do you want to go back or go forward? So let everyone explain themselves. That is how we will make progress as a country. Today also, you know because of the problems in Iran and elsewhere, fuel prices went up worldwide. Some countries even ran out of fuel. Our neighbors had queues for two or three days at petrol stations. God has blessed us; we have had enough fuel. The price went up everywhere, but we have tried to moderate with the resources we have. Yesterday and today, a new price was announced and it has dropped by 10 shillings per liter, and we continue in that direction. We are planning how we can ensure as a nation we move forward, walk together, and ensure Kenya moves forward. So my brothers and sisters, I do not want to speak too long. I know I have spoken at length because, besides being a Christian, you have also given me the opportunity to be the leader of our nation. Now it is our opportunity to do the work we were called to do. You heard how the Bishop guided us. He said everyone, the Bible gives every person the opportunity to contribute to the building of God's church. He spoke a lot about the president – you might have been surprised. So it is not only the president who is allowed to do this work; it is all of us. He was just mentioning the president because sometimes people bother me; I think he was trying to educate them a little: when I come, they make noise, 'This person has gone to church, did this and that.' Even if I were not president, I would still come to church because I am a Christian, and I would come to do this work. I hope we understand each other. So let us contribute. I also heard our preacher say that in the Bible, Jesus said the widow who gave two coins gave more. Do not get it wrong that you should go and give little because that is not the message. That woman gave her two pennies, and that was all the money she had. So it means that you should give all that you have in your account to be like that woman who gave much. Yes. Let us continue that way, and you have educated us well. Pastor, you know Urudunga has been telling us about power. Today you have helped us; you said this power is good because it comes from God. Freedom, continue there now. So there is no power from anywhere else. Power comes from whom? Let's continue with that. So otherwise, thank you very much. Thank you very much, all my fellow leaders, let us cooperate, work together, and we will continue to collaborate. Thank you very much. Now let's do that work.

So otherwise, thank you very much. Thank you very much, all my fellow leaders, let us cooperate, work together, and we will continue to collaborate. Thank you very much. Now let's do that work.