Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
On this day, sixty years ago, Kenya formally achieved internal self-government.
Madaraka, the mandate of majority African self-determination, was a crucial step in this nation’s transformation into a republic later that year.
That first Madaraka Day, then, was the golden dawn of our nation’s sovereignty: freedom from colonial oppression, autonomy from racist repression, and independence from foreign repression.
The noble freedom fighters who fought for our independence primarily engaged in a political struggle to liberate a people who had been violated, humiliated, and impoverished by a predatory system whose institutions were vicious and exploitative.
Even though the freedom struggle was political and the first Madaraka Day signified political independence, every Kenyan and African understood it to be the beginning of the difficult and honorable work of securing and expanding social and economic freedom.
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The people of Kenya have worked tirelessly, with admirable diligence and unwavering resolve, for the past six decades to perfect the political freedom of their nation through sustained socioeconomic advancement.
In this way, Kenyans have reaffirmed their commitment to genuine freedom by adding freedom from want, freedom from suffering, freedom from ignorance, and freedom from indignity to political freedom.
Our ancestors’ heroic struggle to vindicate our God-given right to self-determination necessitated immense sacrifice and tenacity in the face of a titanic adversary.
They ultimately prevailed. Likewise, our struggle against underdevelopment, poverty, humiliation, and vulnerability has been arduous. Yet, we have made steady progress year after year for the past six decades of independence.
At the heart of our struggle for freedom, both before and after independence, is the uniquely Kenyan spirit of flexible determination, innovative consistency, hopeful pragmatism, and sufficient faith to take risks. The required sacrifices were inspired by a spirit that transcends ordinary decision-making and is truly singular.
We still recognize that spirit. It resides in the hearts of all Kenyans who wake up every day determined to give their all, test their luck, knock on doors, and pursue their dreams. Every day, we observe merchants, artisans, farmers, and other workers braving the scorching sun and enduring the freezing rain to make a living. We also observe it in the teachers, nurses, police officers, extension officers, and technicians who frequently go beyond the call of duty to assist Kenyans in their communities across the nation.
This noble ethic, characterized by a willingness to struggle by working hard and embracing risk, as well as a determination to achieve positive change in both large and small steps, has brought us far and will carry us beyond the horizon of our destiny.
Today, I join all Kenyans in celebrating our magnificent collective accomplishments and the spirit of courageous effort that inspired our ancestors sixty years ago and continues to inspire us today. This celebration exemplifies the tenacity with which we have worked to perfect our national mandate of self-government. I will highlight the marvelous ways in which we have steered political freedom toward democratic maturity, expanded economic freedom by empowering enterprise, and widened social freedom by ensuring dignity.
A Developing Democracy
We must never forget that until relatively recently, American politics was a divisive, violent, life-and-death struggle in which neighbors, coworkers, and even family members were incited to hatred in the name of political competition.
During this period of darkness, the tribe was the defining characteristic of all political engagement and the determining factor in the democratic contest. Numerous highly esteemed experts and eminent individuals asserted confidently that Kenyan politics is inherently tribal, and several political leaders designed their parties, policies, and campaigns based on crude tribal appeals.
Leaders also ensured that the political discourse revolved around the personalities and private interests of a small number of privileged individuals, rather than the aspirations of the majority. Some used political parties as personal vehicles to gain access to the high table where significant decisions were made, and they exploited their ethnic constituencies to negotiate a larger share of public resources and positions of power and privilege for their private gain.
Decades ago, Kenyans realized that this perverse political culture not only tainted our democracy but also impeded our collective progress by stifling our spirit of daring and achievement. Therefore, the people of Kenya yearned for liberation from the tyranny of political personality cults, toxic tribal discourse, and the violence that they generated.
They desired a more unifying, cosmopolitan engagement framework that encouraged the expression of their shared aspirations, as well as inclusive negotiation and a collective approach to achieving them.
During the last General Election, the people of Kenya attained independence. The campaign was conducted solely based on important national issues, with economic issues taking precedence. Kenyans not only rejected the old divisive politics of tribe and tribal chiefs, but they also demanded and questioned well-thought-out party manifestos with detailed economic transformation plans. Even though the election was closely contested, it was the most peaceful in the history of the multiparty system.
Our public discourse, political discourse, and social debate agenda have changed irrevocably. After the election, substantive policy issues continue to dominate the national discourse. Currently, the Finance Bill is the subject of vigorous discussion everywhere in this country, including churches, social venues, formal and informal workplaces, all media platforms, and bustling markets, as well as urban and rural gatherings.
We are a truly innovative nation. Numerous nations struggle fruitlessly to generate a national debate on public financing, taxation, and other policy issues. In Kenya, we have maintained an intense discourse on the Finance Bill and Affordable Housing Policy for several weeks. The discussion has remained focused on the issues, and there is no trace of divisive ethnic rhetoric. It is entirely appropriate that the cost of living keeps all leaders, including myself, awake.
On the surface, the national housing debate is not about whether it is a tax or a contribution. The emphasis on housing contributions is an implicit manifestation of ownership. People desire improved information and assurances concerning custody, security, investment, and return on their funds.
The discourse on public finances and the Housing Fund has illuminated our emergence as a Stakeholder Republic, which is a positive development. Kenyans are more engaged than ever before in shaping public policies and holding institutions accountable for the way they manage national affairs. This is the vision of Madaraka as expressed in the first article of our Constitution: all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya.
We have passed a defining moment in the evolution of our political freedom and democratic maturity. Today, Kenyans of this generation honor the patriots who came before us in this celebration of a noble and historic achievement, which is our irreplaceable legacy for future generations.
Kenya also established a new benchmark in election management by deploying a secure, freely accessible public portal that relayed vote tallies accurately and faithfully in the most recent election, allowing Kenyans and anyone else to compare and verify vote tallies and determine results. This allowed the IEBC to credibly declare and certify election winners, and to demonstrate to the court, in response to petitions by dissatisfied candidates, that the elections met constitutional requirements for being simple, accurate, verifiable, secure, accountable, and transparent. The reduced number of petitions filed for the 2022 election, 124 petitions compared to 303 petitions for the 2017 election, validates the openness and credibility of the upcoming election.
The economy was the most important issue during the most recent election campaign. The vast majority of Kenyans made their voices heard, their ideas clear, and their desires known. From Busia to Banissa, Lokichoggio to Lamu, Magadi to Moyale, Mandera to Migori, and everywhere else, the people have expressed a desire to transform our economic system, democratize opportunity, increase inclusion, and decrease exploitation.
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
Enterprise: Micro-, Small-, and Medium-Sized Businesses, Cooperatives, and the Hustler Fund
Instead of the traditional campaigning of confrontation, incitement, and division, the last campaign was a sustained national debate on the most pertinent economic issues: the millions of our unemployed youth, access to affordable credit, inclusive financing, promoting the robust expression of the legendary Kenyan ‘hustling’ spirit through MSMEs, and the facilitation of individual enterprise by enhancing market power through collective interventions such as the chamas and the co-operatives. This is how Kenyan business owners hoped to gain access to credit, savings, markets, social security, and health insurance.
By focusing on their aspirations, we determined that Kenyan entrepreneurs want to pursue success through enterprise, which takes proactive steps to ensure that no one is left behind or exploited. It is an enterprise culture that encourages the pursuit of individual aspirations through collective systems that empower every individual to succeed within a thriving community.
During consultations with grassroots Kenyans across the country, we identified several obstacles to the effective realization of their economic agenda. The first was regulatory and compliance bureaucracy, including tax administration.
Second, the extreme informality of the majority of businesses effectively relegated them to the periphery of empowerment, facilitation, and even recognition as legal enterprises. Third, there was a misunderstanding regarding “expanding the national tax base”: Is it about more people paying or more people paying? The solution is to empower more Kenyans to enter the taxable income category by consciously creating millions of new jobs.
About 10 million Kenyans were either blacklisted by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) due to their inability to repay loans advanced by financial technology platforms or because they were struggling to make payments. Other lenders demanded substantial securities and valuable assets as collateral, but these struggling business owners needed financing to acquire such assets. Therefore, it was evident that the prevalent financing and credit facilities did not support the profitable existence of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses.
The self-employed make up 51.31 percent of all jobs in our economy. 83 percent, or 15.3 million jobs, are in the informal sector, while only 3.1 million jobs, or 17 percent, are in the formal sector. In light of this employment environment, we needed to address the needs of this underserved majority of workers expeditiously, resolutely, and effectively.
This interaction with the business community prompted the establishment of the Financial Inclusion Fund or the Hustler Fund. The facility employs the latest fintech, powered by Kenyan telecommunications corporations, to eliminate the financial cost, delay, and bureaucracy associated with compliance. The Hustler Fund has also redesigned the concept of collateral by utilizing the borrower’s credit score as an efficient form of security.
The Hustler Fund has been more than transformative; it has been revolutionary.
On its way to becoming the country’s largest financial institution based on the number of borrowers and active loans, the Hustler Fund transformed the country’s fintech ecosystem from predatory to responsible. As a result, Kenya’s digital economy has received a significant boost, as evidenced by reports that Safaricom alone has added at least 2 million new subscribers to its financial ecosystem as a result of the Fund.
Today, as we celebrate progress toward economic liberty, we also celebrate our digital economy, which is powered by our well-known fintech community. The legendary entrepreneurial spirit of Kenya has entered the digital realm.
Kenyans responded unequivocally to this promise of economic freedom. There are currently 42.5 million digital transactions, through which 20.2 million Kenyans have accessed nearly Ksh30 billion and repaid Ksh19.7 billion, with 7 million repeat customers. The Hustler Fund has never had a single shilling stolen through corruption, and borrowers do not need to know anyone, bribe any official, or undergo complex bureaucratic procedures to gain access. They only need a device, a small amount of airtime, and a few minutes to obtain money wherever they are.
The second product of the Hustler Fund will bring our distinctive collectively-driven competitive market enterprise online. The Hustler Fund will deploy chamas and saccos to overcome exclusion and barriers to participation in credit, savings, social security, health insurance, and other socioeconomic amenities to promote inclusion. This is how we will integrate policy and technological innovation into our culture. We are committed to utilizing fintech to ensure that no one is left out of the financial and entrepreneurial inclusion revolution.
During today’s festivities, I am pleased to announce the launch of the second product of the Financial Inclusion Fund, which aims to facilitate people’s access to funding through groups. I am confident that this will be excellent news for my good friend Shiko from Ruaka, who, like many informal business owners, was ready for this innovation even before we launched the first Hustler Fund product.
I am pleased that the introduction of the group loan product coincides with the phenomenal success of the Hustler Fund Personal Loan product. I anticipate that market demand for this product will increase further.
As previously stated, your credit score will determine how much you can borrow, and the group will serve as collateral. This means that your behavior as an entrepreneur and a member of the community will determine your creditworthiness. However, there will be opportunities to rehabilitate defaulters if they exhibit sustained behavior modification.
Thus, we have leveled the playing field between the formal and informal systems, allowing both to increase their complementary contributions to job creation and wealth generation on an equal footing. Today, as we celebrate this expansion of our economic liberty, we also celebrate the democratization of the Kenyan economy.
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
Housing
This is why more Kenyans are participating in robust economic discussions. The conversation is inclusive and focuses on the proposals to raise taxes on locally-manufacturable goods imported from abroad to increase local manufacturing and export competitiveness. Kenyans are interested in how the government will fulfill its commitment to creating one million jobs through the Affordable Housing Programme.
Throughout this discussion, it has become clear that the construction of a single-family dwelling requires a vast quantity of manufactured goods. The Affordable Housing Programme is an intervention that supports the local construction industry, including the Jua Kali sector, to generate high-quality and competitive opportunities for manufacturers and jobs for citizens.
By catalyzing the construction of hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units, we will also stimulate productivity and competitiveness in the production of numerous products, including cement, steel, paint, nails, ballast, timber, roofing materials, windows, and doors.
By increasing Kenya’s industrial productivity, our export performance will improve, which will have a positive effect on our trade balance, job creation, and economic growth. Regional and continental integration initiatives have created a vast untapped market for Kenyan industrial output.
First and foremost, our vision for the Affordable Housing Programme is predicated on the economic objective of creating one million direct and indirect employment opportunities across the entire housing development value chain. A single housing unit can employ three to five workers directly and an additional eight workers indirectly through the production of construction products, transportation, and logistics.
The second objective of the Affordable Housing Programme is to increase the number of homeowners and help more Kenyans make the transition from renting to owning.
The Affordable Housing Programme aims to enable mama mboga to obtain a mortgage she can afford and embark on a feasible path to home ownership. In addition to housing costs, the program includes an entitlement component that gives priority to the local communities where the projects are located. In this manner, the housing program will raise the minimum quality standard.
Human dignity is the third objective of the Affordable Housing Programme, which involves the liberation of millions of people who live in unhygienic environments without adequate sanitation. We did not fight for independence to condemn our innocent countrymen to a life of misery, exclusion, and degradation in slums.
In summary, our nation is engaged in collective public reasoning on how to bake a much larger cake for everyone, as opposed to unpleasant quarrels over who gets a slice and who does not.
To increase our national output, we are prioritizing the consolidation, processing, and addition of value to agricultural products. This is being accomplished by establishing county consolidation and industrial parks in each of the 47 counties.
In addition, the government has accelerated the establishment of five additional export zones in Sagana, Thika, Njoro, Eldoret, and Busia during the next fiscal year to supplement the one in the Athi River. Our special economic zones in Dongo Kundu, Naivasha, and Isiolo will serve as additional magnets for domestic and foreign investment.
Moreover, we remain committed to continental free trade and the successful implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. This week, we concluded the private sector retreat for the trade ministers of the continental free trade area. I am pleased to welcome to this gathering the delegation that has been holding Africa Private Sector discussions in Nairobi under the leadership of my brother, the President of the Comoros, His Excellency Azali Assoumani, who is one of the leading proponents of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
It is also encouraging to note that eleven ministers of trade are present today. I wish to recognize the following AfCFTA Secretariat-led delegations:
- Delegation from Comoros
- Delegation from Niger
- A delegation from Central Africa Republic
- Delegation from Chad
- Delegation from Namibia
- Delegation from Djibouti
- Delegation from Cote D’Ivoire
- Delegation from Nigeria
- Delegation from Botswana
- Delegation from Ghana
- A delegation from Burkina Faso
Today, we are also gathered to celebrate our successes in advancing social freedom through the implementation of our commitments in the areas of health, food security, and education.
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
Agriculture provides food security and is Kenya’s largest employer.
Food is a significant component of household budgets and the cost of living as a whole. There has been a lively discussion on this subject. After a prolonged drought that brought the entire Horn of Africa to the verge of famine, widespread shortages of staple foods have pushed food prices beyond the means of many households.
Increasing food production is a measure with multiple fundamental ramifications. It promotes the majority’s access to affordable and adequate food and nutrition. Additionally, it increases food supply, decreases prices, and consequently reduces the cost of living. Moreover, food production subsidies increase employment and productivity in the country’s largest employer, agriculture.
Through our commitments in this vital sector, we have registered 5 million farmers across the country. In contrast to previous seasons in which allocations were rationed, these farmers were immediately eligible to receive subsidized fertilizer, and those who volunteered received their full requirement. As a result of these measures, Kenyan farmers were able to plant an additional 200,000 acres of food and 2 million kilograms of seed this year.
As international petroleum prices continue to skyrocket, the price of fuel locally increases dramatically. As a component of household budgets, transportation has an impact on the cost of living. We must free Kenyans from their reliance on petroleum-based transportation. For this reason, we are implementing an electric vehicle public transportation system that will significantly reduce transportation costs.
Our boda boda industry will undergo an inclusive transformation with the introduction of more efficient, affordable, and environmentally friendly vehicles. This intervention will make owning and operating a boda boda more affordable, secure, and lucrative. I am eager for this information to reach Mr. Calvin Ochieng, who operates in Kilimani and is the seconder of my presidential nomination so that he can take his hustle to the next level.
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
Health
A healthy nation is liberated from human suffering and empowered to pursue its livelihoods and aspirations without the impediment and underperformance associated with illness. A nation in good health is a happy nation. Therefore, the eradication of the disease is a cornerstone of our plan to perfect self-government. We are committed to doing so affordably, inclusively, and in a way that allows Kenyans to receive quality medical care from their homes.
To this end, we are reforming the National Health Insurance Fund as a social medical insurance facility to meet the urgent needs of Kenyans at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy.
Second, we have committed to providing universal health coverage that enables every Kenyan to receive dignified healthcare for a nominal monthly fee.
Thirdly, we have collaborated with county governments to recruit enough community health promoters (CHP) across the nation so that there is one for every 100 households. This means that each promoter will be tasked with visiting Kenyans in their homes to determine if any conditions require a healthier lifestyle or basic medical care.
In addition, they will be responsible for empowering patients with chronic conditions to manage their medication, diet, and general health in a manner that eliminates the need for hospitalization. In the spirit of effective healthcare management, promoters will facilitate the early detection of conditions for referral to comprehensive care.
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
Inclusive Education, Equitable, and of High Quality: CBC and Higher Education
The imperative of Madaraka compels us to construct a strong, democratically prosperous nation through the successful pursuit of high productivity and competitiveness, industrialization, and technological advancement. All of this requires a populace that is equipped with the knowledge, skills, and understanding necessary not only to participate effectively as informed citizens of a democracy, but also to pursue meaningful livelihoods and perform their share of economic production, and even to imagine, create, and construct the Kenya of our future.
Education is therefore essential for our independence and liberty, as well as the enabler and optimizer of all other endeavors. We have taken every measure and pursued every available option to realize our vision of making education at all levels accessible, affordable, and inclusive, and we have eliminated all social and economic obstacles to Kenyans attaining the highest level of education. In addition to subsidizing primary and secondary education in all public primary and day secondary schools, we have reimagined higher education financing to provide equity and broader access to all Kenyans, with a particular focus on enabling the most vulnerable learners to realize their right to education.
In a historic and unprecedented effort to improve the national teacher: pupil ratio and boost performance, we have also hired 35,000 teachers. In addition, we are redesigning the curriculum for competence-based education to make it relevant to our current social, cultural, and economic development. This month, the National Open University will finally receive its charter, and courses are currently being uploaded for commissioning.
Long ago, tertiary education in Kenya was a privilege reserved for the privileged, while university education was the exclusive right of the elite. Not any longer. I unveiled a new funding model for higher education a month ago that will make universities and technical training fully inclusive, financially robust, and capable of competing globally with their peers, while also contributing to the socio-economic transformation of our nation through innovation and research.
The model aims to financially support the rising number of students enrolling in these institutions and to ensure that those from low-income households have equal access to educational opportunities. Under the model, they will receive full scholarships, while others will receive appropriately graduated levels of scholarship support based on a robust financial testing instrument (MTI).
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
Technology
The eternal conundrum of Kenya’s integrity agenda revolves around the question, “Who will supervise public interest trustees?” and “Who will guard the guard? These questions do not arise due to our low level of trust. Instead, they exist due to our high expectations. Given the legitimacy of these expectations in a technologically advanced new millennium, we increasingly rely on technology to solve our transactional efficiency issues.
From the Elections Results Portal for our democracy to the Hustler Fund for MSMEs and the Means Testing Instrument for higher education, as well as the registration of farmers and distribution of fertilizer, digital technology enables the government to efficiently deliver services and instills confidence in the system’s fairness and integrity.
Therefore, we must take a moment today to celebrate technology in general, as well as Kenyan fintech and other innovations that enable us to serve Kenyans to the highest possible standard. I remind all Kenyans who work in technology and everyone who uses technology that our ancestors fought a technologically superior superpower with primitive technology and won our independence. It is our responsibility to implement the most advanced innovations and technologies to make Kenya more productive, competitive, and prosperous.
I am convinced that technology holds the key to enhancing government service delivery’s efficacy, inclusiveness, transparency, and public confidence. We are digitizing government information and moving public services online for this reason. On this day, I encourage all Kenyans to embrace the new era of eGovernance, which enables everyone, including those at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy, to access government services via mobile devices at their convenience.
Since the introduction of e-Citizen, the government has gradually increased the number of available services to 391. The rate of expansion of on-boarded services is currently adopting a radically new trajectory. Today, 3,570 services have been integrated, and by the end of this month, we anticipate that 5,000 services will be operational. By the end of 2023, we hope to provide every government service via the eCitizen platform.
Let us reflect on the noble motivations and visions that inspired our heroic freedom fighters to make such enormous sacrifices for the sake of freedom, not only for themselves but also for the rest of their people who were unwilling or unable to join the fight. Why did these heroes accept such a high level of risk and danger to achieve a benefit that everyone would enjoy?
The answer must not only define our attitudes toward public service but also shape our comprehension of the motivations and values underlying collective endeavors and social policies. For our freedom fighters, it was not worthwhile to live in a country where anyone was unfree and oppressed. 69. We must apply this truth to our political, social, and economic affairs.
This magnificent ethos is exemplified by our collectivistic spirit, which supports individual competitive enterprise. As members of a community we call a nation, we owe each other certain responsibilities. When we can improve another person’s life at no or minimal cost to ourselves, we have a moral obligation to do so.
On a fundamental level, we are morally obligated to consider our responsibilities to unemployed youth, vulnerable communities battling in slums, and other individuals at risk of exclusion. Their struggle for human dignity compels us to exercise moral consideration. Their complicated means of subsistence have the potential to complicate our more secure prospects. No individual is an island. To access this power, we must honor our values and fulfill our responsibilities.
Therefore, freedom fighters view the inherent morality of their cause as sufficient compensation. Those earning Ksh200,000 per month, for instance, will contribute only Ksh2,500 to a fund that helps create jobs for millions of youth and feeds many street vendors. This is an important contribution to the greater good.
As we pursue the transformation of our economy from the bottom up, we must remain vigilant to ensure that no one is left behind and no resources are lost to waste or corruption. Public servants are responsible for ensuring that public resources are utilized solely and exclusively for the benefit of the people. I have made a personal commitment to utilize all available tools and authority to combat waste and theft. I do not tolerate avarice, lawlessness, or impunity.
It is now my pleasure and honor to introduce and officially launch Hustler Fund’s second product, the HUSTLER Group Loan.
Thank you to everyone. God be with you. God be with Africa.
Unveiled: Ruto’s Unforgettable Address at Grand Madaraka Day Commemoration
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