President William Ruto has admitted that the challenges confronting his administration are largely of his own making.
Speaking on Monday during a joint Parliamentary Group meeting of Kenya Kwanza and ODM legislators, Ruto said his push for sweeping reforms—including the new university funding model, the Social Health Authority (SHA), and the affordable housing programme—has contributed to his current unpopularity.
“The difficulties that I face today as a President in Kenya are self-imposed. I imposed on myself all these difficulties, implementing the new funding model, implementing SHA, implementing housing, doing all those things,” he said.
The President added that had he chosen to maintain the status quo, he would have remained a popular figure but at the expense of national progress.
“If I hadn’t done any of those, I would be a very popular person, but the country would not have moved anywhere,” he noted.
Ruto further suggested that ODM leader Raila Odinga, had he won the 2022 presidential election, would have pursued the same reforms.
“I am confident that if Raila would have become president, he would be doing what I am doing. He would be implementing SHA, affordable housing, education reforms, and reforms in agriculture. I know that for a fact because I have been in his school of leadership,” Ruto remarked.
Approval Ratings Remain Low
Despite his defense of the reforms, public confidence in Ruto’s leadership has dipped significantly.
A TIFA Research survey released on May 28 revealed that 75 percent of Kenyans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Only 14 percent said the nation was on the right path, 9 percent were undecided, while 2 percent expressed no opinion.
“Asked about the country’s current direction, a sizeable majority of Kenyans believe that it is ‘wrong’ (75%), five times more than the fewer than one-fifth of a contrary (positive) view (14%),” the report noted.
The Head of State maintained, however, that the unpopular reforms are necessary to steer Kenya toward long-term stability and growth.
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