As of November 2024, the Kenya Kwanza administration, led by President William Ruto, has been in office for two years and two months.
In the past two years, President Ruto's government has faced several hurdles owing to controversial initiatives pushed by his government.
The government aggressively pushed the initiatives amid opposition from the public, and a section of the political divide eventually ended up with the President eating the humble pie and abandoning them.
In this article, we outline three instances where Ruto was forced to abandon key government initiatives:
Appointment of 50 CASs
Read More
In March 2023, President Ruto nominated 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries (CASs) and sent their names to Parliament for approval.
However, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula returned the 50 names to the President, stating that Parliament cannot vet the CASs because no legal provision requires it to do so.
“The obligation to respect, uphold, and defend the Constitution enjoins the House to refrain from assuming and discharging a role that it has not been expressly assigned by the Constitution or written law. In that regard, the National Assembly is unable to vet the nominees in the absence of an express constitutional or statutory requirement to do so," the Speaker's memorandum noted.
Following the memorandum, the Head of Public Service, Felix Kosgei, gazetted the appointment of the 50 CASs.
The appointment of the 50 CASs was challenged in court by the Law Society of Kenyan and Katiba Institute, among others. The court delivered a ruling in July 2023, terming the appointments unconstitutional.
However, it was not until July 2024, after the youth complained about government waste, that the President suspended the appointment of the CASs.
"The decision to fill the position of Chief Administrative Secretaries is hereby suspended," Ruto said.
2024 Finance Bill
In May 2024, the government introduced the 2024 Finance Bill and rallied Kenyans to support it. The Bill sought to introduce new punitive taxes, with the government arguing that the country needed to raise more revenue.
The Bill faced opposition from the public, with Kenyans, mainly the youth, consistently pushing the government to withdraw the Bill, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
The government's decision to ignore the youth prompted them to explore other options, including exercising their right to peaceful demonstration and protest.
From 18 May 2024 to mid-July 2024, the youth took to the streets every Tuesday and Thursday, protesting against the Bill. On 25 June 2024, when ParliamentParliament passed the Bill, the youth stormed the National Assembly, forcing the lawmakers to flee.
The events of 25 June 2024 forced the President to reject the 2024 Finance Bill despite pushing and whipping Kenya Kwanza legislators to support it.
"Listening keenly to the people of Kenya, who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede and therefore I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill and shall subsequently be withdrawn,” he said during a televised address from State House, Nairobi.
Adani Deal
The Adani Group has been making headlines in the country after details emerged claiming that the government is in talks with the company to have it manage the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and maintain electricity transmission lines and substations across the country.
The reports elicited massive reactions, with Kenyans expressing opposition to Adani's involvement in Kenya, citing controversies associated with the company and its leadership.
Despite the opposition, Energy and Petroleum CS Opiyo Wandayi, on 11 October 2024, announced the signing of a 30-year deal between Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (KETRACO) and Adani Energy Solutions.
Wandayi said the deal would see Adani Energy Solutions develop, finance, construct, operate, and maintain key transmission lines and substations across the country, adding that the Ksh95.68 billion deal would address the persistent power blackouts and ensure power reliability.
"The signing of this agreement marks the conclusion of a long-negotiated process that has been ongoing for the past 4 months. As part of this infrastructure development, the Project Company will raise all the funding in form of debt and equity that will be repaid over the 30-year period of the project agreement," Wandayi's statement read in part.
Speaking in Nakuru on 24 October 2024, President Ruto defended the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) deal with Adani, saying it was preferable to borrowing, which would burden Kenyans.
“The Adani Group is investing Ksh95 billion in the transmission lines. We would have otherwise gone to borrow that money and burden the people of Kenya.
"It is important for us as a nation to appreciate that a partnership between the public and private sector gives us a win-win outcome where we can deliver public services using the efficiency of the private sector as a way of supporting overall development in our country,” President Ruto stated.
However, a month later, U.S. media outlets reported that Adani founder Gautam Adani and other firm directors were indicted in a New York court for a multi-billion bribery scheme.
The reports indicated that the directors were accused of paying Indian government officials USD250 million (approximately Ksh32 billion) to secure solar energy contracts and later concealed the deal to raise money in the U.S. to fund the contracts.
Speaking during the State of the Nation address in ParliamentParliament on 21 November 2024, hours after reports of Adani's New York indiction emerged, Ruto ordered the immediate cancellation of Adani deals in the country.
As explained by the Head of State, the new orders were informed by new information regarding the integrity of the Indian company.
“I have stated in the past, and I reiterate today, that in the face of undisputed evidence or credible information on corruption, I will not hesitate to take decisive action.
"Accordingly, I now direct - in furtherance of the principles enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution on transparency and accountability, and based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations - that the procuring agencies within the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum immediately cancel the ongoing procurement process for the JKIA Expansion Public Private Partnership transaction, as well as the recently concluded KETRACO transmission line Public Private Partnership contract," Ruto said.
