Kenya marked 60 years today since becoming a republic, with Jamhuri Day celebrations led by President William Ruto held at Uhuru Gardens.
Over 30,000 people flocked to Uhuru Gardens early in the morning waiting for the ceremony to start, with many waiting for President Ruto’s address to the nation.
Here are the key points to note from Ruto’s speech.
For starters, Ruto announced that ‘starting January 2024, Kenya will be a visa-free country and visitors will be identified beforehand.
“Kenya will be a visa-free country. Anyone from any part of the globe can visit Kenya. We will use a digital platform to identify visitors beforehand.”
He also touched on health insurance saying,
“For the first time, Kenyans without the means to pay for health insurance will have the government pay for their NHIF…Those who have been remitting Ksh 500, we have reduced it to Ksh 300.”
Ruto, furthermore, explained that the ‘collection of taxes has improved through the digitization program adopted by his government through the e-citizen program, adding that the technology has helped ‘reduce the leaking of funds and corruption’ in the government. He went on to say that his administration will support quick prosecution of those involved in corruption.
On protecting the elderly and vulnerable people in society, Ruto said these groups would get their stipends before civil servants, including the president, receive their salaries.
He commended Safaricom for accepting to start sending the elderly stipends soon through M-PESA free of charge. This is intended to enhance convenience for them. The president said the program has started with the elderly and will later be launched for other vulnerable groups
Ruto also touched on NSSF funds disbursement saying,
“The waiting period has been reduced from 82 days to 10 days and by next year, the period will be lowered to one day.”
The creative industry was also mentioned in the president’s speech saying the government has struck a deal with the renowned Grammy Academy to shoot films in Kenya. He added that Meta, the company that owns Facebook, did a pilot program to pay creators making original content and the program will be extended to help young people in the country monetize their content.
Heckling at Jamhuri celebrations
There was heckling from the audience in some instances as Ruto read his speech. For example, when he was talking on corrupt government officials and quickening their prosecution, a section of the crowd was not impressed.
The recent arrest of the Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o hit the headlines after she revealed that the treasury tripled the salaries of state officers. Many, including opposition leaders, speculated that her arrest was due to the revelations she made about the corruption in government.
A section of the crowd at Uhuru Gardens also heckled when the president touched on improving infrastructure and electricity generation in the country.
This comes as the nation experienced another nationwide blackout on Sunday evening that affected various parts of the country. The Cabinet Secretary for Energy Davis Chirchir came out to defend the government saying the problem is in the transmission network.
He added that his ministry is considering load shedding in some parts of the country and engaging in private-public partnerships to fix the issue of frequent nationwide power blackouts.
Despite the heckling, Ruto went on with his speech undeterred.
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