DP promises Sh29b fund for hustlers if elected president

Deputy President William Ruto and Mama Rachel Ruto are received by Canon Reverend Japeth Munazi for a Sunday service at the A.C.K All Saints Church Mtwapa Parish, Kilifi County, yesterday. 

Deputy President William Ruto has promised to set aside Sh100 million for hustlers in each constituency to start or grow businesses if he is elected president in 2022. The country has 290 constituencies.

Ruto said if elected president, he would ensure small-scale traders like handcart pushers, grocers and boda boda operators are given interest-free loans to raise their standards of living.

“When I talk about changing the way things are done in this country to help the small traders, some people get angry with me. I do not say what I do not know. I have thought about it and I know it can be done,” he told supporters after attending a service at the ACK All Saints Church Mtwapa Parish, Kilifi County, yesterday.

The DP said if the government already gives Sh100 million for the National Government Constituency Development Fund every year, he did not see why another Sh100 million cannot be set aside for small-scale traders to expand their businesses, increasing the government’s revenue base in the long run.

The DP said his bottom-up approach to end poverty was the best way to enable every Kenyan to earn a meaningful living.

Ruto denied claims that he wanted to cause chaos in the country by pushing for the hustler movement as a new way to economic empowerment.

“We are not violent people. I want to change the way we are doing politics in this country by giving serious priority to the small man,” said Ruto, who was accompanied by his wife Rachael and several politicians. He added that Sh600 million had been set aside for a dual carriageway in Mtwapa to ease traffic.