Ruto-Gachagua administration asks for patience amid the high cost of living
3 min readRuto-Gachagua administration asks for patience amid the high cost of living despite their pledge to arrest the economic situation during their campaigns.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has called for patience from Kenyans as their Kenya Kwanza administration mitigates the tough economic situation being witnessed in the country.
The nation’s second-in-command stated in an interview on Sunday that it will take time for him and President William Ruto to regain control of the situation because they inherited a failing economy.
Kenyans will have now to bear the high cost of living despite Ruto-Gachagua unveiling a juicy manifesto and making flowery promises on the campaign trails.
President William Ruto has been hit with the economic reality of the country, throwing him into disarray as far as implementation of his pledges is concerned.
Gachagua has now asked for more time as the Kenya Kwanza administration finds a way to arrest the high cost of living that they had promised to tackle immediately after being sworn in.
“We have inherited a dilapidated economy. We have found empty coffers. There is barely any money in this country and we are starting from scratch. I have asked the people of Kenya to be patient with us because we have a plan but it cannot be immediate because we have found a bad situation in terms of the economy,” said Gachagua on Sunday during an interview with NTV.
He added: “When we were campaigning, we didn’t know that the situation was so bad until we came to the government, we got the National Treasury Cabinet Secretary with his officials and provided us with the balance sheet to see how we look, we found the stores were empty.”
The DP described the country’s economic situation as ‘very bad’ saying that if President Ruto had not taken bold steps to suspend the fuel subsidy, the situation could have worsened further.
Ruto during the campaigns touted initiatives targeting the poor, women, youth, and small-scale traders and incentives for manufacturing, agriculture, and other key economic drivers.
Within his first 100 days in office, Ruto pledged to arrest the high cost of living.
In the latest monthly review by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Super Petrol is up by Sh20.18 to retail at Sh179.30 per litre in Nairobi.
Diesel is up by Sh25 to retail at Sh165.00 per litre while Kerosene is up by Sh20 to retail at Sh147.94 per litre.
But Ruto-Gachagua administration argued that subsidizing production is beneficial to consumers unlike in consumption where there is no return noting that their economic interventions will work out.
“You subsidize fertilizer to increase maize production to lower the cost of UNGA. That is pragmatic leadership but just saying that you want to subsidize UNGA, for how long can you do it? It is not sustainable and you are doing it at the expense of development,” he said.
“I want to tell the people of Kenya that all is not lost. We have now a new President who knows what he is doing. We have a President who is willing to sit down and get good advice from economists and other professionals. Right now, there is no money at the Treasury, in another two-three months, Kenyans will start seeing things picking up, already we have 1.4 million bags of fertilizer ready for the short rains,” he added.
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