Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has faulted President William Ruto over his ambitious plan to transform Kenya into a first-world country akin to Singapore.
Speaking on Sunday, December 21, Kalonzo questioned how Kenya can measure up to countries like Singapore when companies are relocating to neighboring countries.
The former Vice President claimed that during the 2023 bipartisan talks between the opposition and the government, they received reports indicating that many companies were moving to Tanzania and Uganda.
“How do you make Kenya Singapore when many companies in Kenya have migrated to Tanzania and Uganda, and our youth are unemployed? How do you do that?
“This was given to us during the NADCO report; it was actually brought to us in hard copies. At that time, we were told it was because of what had happened in the country, but it continued; nothing has changed. Companies are migrating from Kenya, which means exporting jobs to Uganda and Tanzania,” said Kalonzo.
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The Wiper party leader termed President Ruto’s Singapore dream a dead card strategy to woo Kenyans ahead of the 2027 general election.
Kalonzo went on to highlight that under Vision 2030, Kenya was expected to attain middle-income status by the year 2030.
“Kenya was supposed by 2030 to be a middle-income country with citizens enjoying a high quality of life.
“How many Kenyans are able to put food on the table, and you are telling us you want to take us to Singapore,” he added.
President Ruto, on November 20, during the State of the Nation address, outlined ambitious plans to transition Kenya into a first-world country, specifically modeling Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia.
The Head of State spoke of bold infrastructure projects potentially costing over Ksh5 trillion, to be funded through novel mechanisms including a National Infrastructure Fund and a Sovereign Wealth Fund, rather than traditional debt or additional taxes.
Ruto’s ten-year vision also includes dual carriageways for over 2,500 kilometers of highways, tarmacking 28,000 kilometers of roads, completing the Standard Gauge Railway to Malaba, and constructing at least 50 mega dams alongside hundreds of smaller dams to bring 2.5 million acres under irrigation.
He also mentioned that seed funding would come from natural resource revenues and proceeds from the privatization of national assets, positioning the funds as "a generational strategy to preserving value, mobilizing capital, accelerating delivery, and ensuring Kenya becomes stronger, wealthier, and more competitive."
