President Wiliam Ruto presided over the Mashujaa Day celebrations yesterday 20th October as he took to reassure Kenyans that everything is in control and things will change for the better very soon. The president outlined his plan to cushion Kenyans from the harsh economic times

The President  made several promises touching on improving food production, housing, the system of education, health insurance, internet connectivity and service delivery. He emphasized the need to improve crop production as a way to improve the welfare of the citizens.

“We have a severe food shortage as a result of a prolonged drought in Kenya coupled with this are the extremely high global fertiliser prices,” Noted the president.

Dr Ruto went further to say that he fertilizer subsidy will be here to stay and he is banking on it to increase food production in the country. He also intimated that he is in agreement with other East African governments for a joint project of starting a fertilizer manufacturing factory in the region as a remedy.

President Ruto plans to mitigate the effects of the ongoing drought by constructing  100 dams across the country though a public-private partnership program. This he says will bring more land to production hence alleviating food production in the country.

President Ruto also promised to increase internet connectivity across the country in a bid to bring more people into the digital economy. This, the President explained will be done by laying out an additional 100,000km of the national fibre-optic network. In addition, the cost of data will further be lowered.

The president also promised to increase access to credit by businesses especially those owned by the youth. This is in addition to involving the Jua kali sector in government projects such as the Affordable Housing project. His administration looks to construct 500,000 affordable housing units.

Ruto also lauded telecommunication companies and financial institutions for lowering  interest on mobile money and removing those listed as defaulters, the rollout of the hustlers’ fund will ensure all youth have access to credit.

He also promised to transform the education sector such that there is so mismatch between the skills acquired and the industry needs in a bid to stem unemployment.

“High-quality and relevant education is vital in imparting the necessary skills and competencies to learners from pre-primary to the tertiary level to enable citizens to engage meaningfully with the present and future world,” he reckoned.

The president also promised to revitalize the  Universal Health Coverage – UHC program so as to make proper healthcare accessible to all even as he promised to look into the welfare of health workers such that their working conditions are good.