WILLIAM RUTO FULL SPEECH IN THE US

RUTO: WHAT IS BOTTOM UP ECONOMIC PLAN?

“It is not by default that I am probably the leading candidate in this election. First, it because I have a track record that the people of Kenya know, they feel and associate with.

Second, my team and I have a credible plan that is resonating with the people of Kenya. We believe our plan has what it takes to take Kenya from where we are today to the next level. We call our plan the Bottom-Up Economic Plan.

One, it involves targeted investments in labour intensive sectors like housing to create jobs and opportunities for our young people.

Two, it entails investments in agriculture, value addition and agro-processing not only to create additional jobs but also to put money in the pockets of majority of the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

We believe these investments will not only give us the returns we are looking for but the returns will be attained within two to three years to enable us expand the tax base to tackle the challenge of runaway public debt.

Three, our plan seeks to ensure that the micro-small and medium enterprises that comprise 80% of all businesses in Kenya are addressed in three fundamental ways, namely, by creating the necessary infrastructure for them to thrive, create a legal regime to protect their business and more importantly put in place financial systems that protect these enterprises from predatory lenders.

At the moment, while the big corporates access credit at plus or minus 10% interest, micro-small and medium enterprises access credit not at 10% interest but sometimes up to 1000% interest rate (from shylocks).

This is the discrepancy that is destroying and taking away opportunities from Millions of Citizens that are in the micro-small and medium enterprises space. For the record, the fact that we have 15 Million Kenyans (half the working population of Kenya) blacklisted by Credit Reference Bureaus (CRB) tells you the toll predatory lenders have taken on the people of Kenya.

It is a matter of urgency and that is why I insist that sorting out our economic situation is not an option but an imperative.

The Bottom Up Economic Plan also includes making sure that everybody carries a proportionate burden of health insurance. Today, the people at the bottom of the pyramid pay as much as 10% of their income for health insurance.

But William Ruto as Deputy President pays NHIF Ksh. 1,700 out of a salary of 1,487,500 (that 0.001% of his income) towards health insurance. That is the discrepancy and inequality that we must sort out. As a result of this, we have a huge population that has been locked out of health insurance.

Our approach is to lower the cost of health insurance for the people at bottom of the pyramid and get people like myself and others to pay their rightful share to make sure health insurance is graduated and based on everybody’s income as opposed to giving static figures.

Sorting out these issues creates the Bottom Up Effect for Everybody: Getting the Jobless into Jobs, Getting People who are paying high cost of credit access to affordable credit, getting our farmers productivity up, getting those who have no access to health to have access to health. We believe with this plan we can take the country forward.”

H.E. DR. WILLIAM SAMOEI RUTO,
DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF REPUBLIC OF KENYA.
Thursday, 3rd February, 2022 in USA.