Ruto's Sh5 trillion promise: Path to economic freedom or political stunt?

President William Ruto and Deputy President Prof Kindiki Kithure arrive for a Cabinet Meeting at State House, Nairobi on 29/4/2025. [PCS]

Has “bottom-up” now become “top-down”?  That seems to be the unsaid question lurking beneath President William Ruto’s ten-year, Sh5 trillion “mega-infrastructure” idea being drip-fed to Kenyans in each successive speech.  The latest morsels were provided in his Jamhuri Day address in which he referenced the idea as our “Sh5 trillion national economic freedom project”. 

Let’s hope it will not take 18 months to firm up this idea into actual policy/strategy. That’s how long this administration took to translate their manifesto - “The Plan” – into the “Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda” (BETA) and MTP IV (the Fourth Medium-Term Plan under Kenya Vision 2030).  Hey, in their meeting yesterday (Monday), did Cabinet discuss a formal Sh5 trillion road map/policy document before they approved the National Infrastructure Fund (NIF)?