Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has censured President William Ruto and the Kenya Kwanza government over their failure to deliver their promises made to Kenyans upon taking office.
Rating their one-year scorecard in office, Osotsi said they have made more misses than hits in achieving their ambitious plans to alleviate Kenyans from issues affecting them.
Speaking during Citizen TV’s Daybreak show on Monday, the legislator argued that the government has reneged on its promises and further made the lives of Kenyans deplorable.
Dissecting the Kenya Kwanza manifesto upon which they wooed Kenyans to elect them into power, Osotsi said that the government has taken a U-turn on curing the high cost of living that has plagued Kenyans for aeons.
“They said that whatever happens, they are going to reduce the cost of living. All these excuses we are getting that it is an international factor, it is beyond us, is the same explanation that the Uhuru government gave and they dismissed it and they said that food must be provided…they have failed,” he said.
In the same breath Ososti stated that the cost of living has been exacerbated by the increased taxation rates “in a very unprecedented manner”, an increment made in the Finance Act 2023, as a bid to revive the nation’s ailing economy.
He also fronted the issue of borrowing upon which President Ruto promised to cut down but has instead even surpassed his predecessors within the same period.
“They said that they will not borrow and that they will restructure government debts and 10 months in power they had borrowed more than what Uhuru borrowed in the same period and they are continuing to borrow,” he noted.
On the most pertinent yet contentious issue of constructing affordable houses for Kenyans, Osotsi said that the government has made zero gains on that front and is even spreading its tentacles to counties and interfering with their functions.
“They said that they are going to construct 250,000 houses every year. Have they constructed even a single house? No. Instead, they have modified that programme to take it to the county and taken over what counties are supposed to do because housing is a devolved function,” he said.
“There is no intervention in counties, no public participation, no engagement of county assemblies they are doing it directly. That is against the constitution and devolution.”
President Ruto’s one-year anniversary will be on Wednesday, September 13, as his performance is deeply interrogated by both critics and supporters on what gains the nation has made under his rule.
