President Ruto leads country in prayers for rains on Valentine's Day

President William Ruto when he led the country in a national prayer day following the drought and lack of rains. [Twitter: @rigathi]

President William Ruto led the country in a national prayer day on Tuesday, following the persistent drought and lack of rains.

The head of state, who was joined by First Lady Rachel Ruto, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Second Lady Dorcas Gachagua and other leaders asked Kenyans to pray so that the Almighty can bestow his blessings.

"As a government, we have made all plans such as in relation to fertilizers and seeds, so that we prepare ourselves because we know God will send us rain and Kenya will have food. We will also eradicate the shame of hunger and starvation in Kenya," said Ruto.

The event was held at the Nyayo national stadium in Nairobi County, where other religious leaders were in attendance.

"I am a very proud Kenyan that our nation, especially, the body of Jesus Christ in Kenya has woken up... I am very proud that the Church has rediscovered its place in the governance of the republic of Kenya. And that you have come to occupy your place... I am happy that the Church has come back to the centre of the politics of the republic of Kenya," said Ruto.

The President who did not shy away from quoting several Bible verses said he is confident that the country will move forward.

"This nation is going to move from this level to the next level. God has opened the doors for our nation," said Ruto.

According to the President, the country will begin reaping benefits soon.

"I want you to know because I speak from a position of knowledge; the doors in the financial systems in the international community were closed for our nation. But I want to give you the good news. That now, the financial system in the world has opened the doors once more for Kenya. We can now go to any international financial system and ask on behalf of Kenya and the doors are opened for us," said Ruto.

The same, according to the head of state, applies locally.

"Locally, our doors in the financial system had been limited. But today, the doors of the financial system in Kenya are open for the government of Kenya, and today we are getting from those financial markets more than we need," Ruto said.

President Ruto also assured the country that the government will meet its debt obligations.

"We had accumulated too much reckless debt and I want to say with a lot of humility that we will pay our debts. And we will make this country debt-free," said Ruto.

He was quick to give an example of the opened doors.

"Last week, the court made a final determination and today we have opened the door to savings in our nation. The NSSF law now guarantees that every citizen will save six per cent of their salary and every employer will save six per cent to accompany that of the employee so that we can build savings for our nation.

If you were in any doubt as to whether the doors of Kenya God has opened them, I want to give you that confirmation that indeed our doors have been opened. And in any case, let me also remind you, how is this going to happen? I want to remind you what the scripture says... 'And the wealth of sinners is stored up for the righteous'. So we are not only going to work hard, but we know where we will get the extras," said Ruto.