Ruto Defends Ksh5 Trillion Plan, “Kenya Cannot Grow Using 60-Year-Old Economic Models

President William Ruto has come to the defence of the government’s ambitious Ksh5 trillion project, stating that the project is aimed at transforming the economy at a faster rate.

Speaking on Thursday, President Ruto said Kenya cannot continue operating under the same economic model it has followed since independence if it hopes to achieve meaningful and sustained development.

“We are rolling out a Sh5 trillion programme. If we continue at the rate at which we have in the last 60 years, Kenya will lag behind. We must do things differently,” Ruto said.

The President argued that the continued use of traditional methods has limited the growth of the country, adding that daring reforms are needed to correct the development path of the nation.

“It is said madness is doing the same thing year after year and expecting different results. We are not mad people. We know what we want to do,” he added.

Ruto said the government has anchored its strategy on clear priorities and a willingness to depart from past practices, noting that lasting change will only come through new methods and decisive action.

“We cannot continue doing things the same way and Kenya will change,” he said.

His remarks come days after the Cabinet approved the establishment of the National Infrastructure Fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, effectively launching a long-term Ksh5 trillion economic and development transformation agenda.

The two funds will form the backbone of the government’s plan to transition Kenya into a first-world economy through a sustainable, investment-led growth model that reduces overreliance on borrowing and taxation.

According to State House, the Cabinet endorsed the National Infrastructure Fund as a limited liability company, and this vehicle will be central in aligning government financial resources with development priorities. The National Infrastructure Fund will play a key role in mobilizing domestic capital and generating financial value from existing infrastructure assets as well as private investment in infrastructure development.

Through innovative resource mobilisation, strategic asset monetisation, the democratisation of ownership via capital markets, and the deployment of national savings, the government aims to unlock long-term private capital to finance priority investments.

The new funding model will support shifting infrastructure development away from debt funding and towards collaborative models in order to preserve value while increasing the pace of delivery.

Under the framework, the government will ring-fence all proceeds from privatisation and invest them exclusively in public infrastructure projects that generate and safeguard long-term economic value.

State House said the strategy will ensure that the sale of public assets directly translates into productive investments that benefit both current and future generations.

“Every shilling invested through the Fund is expected to crowd in up to Sh10 additional shillings from long-term investors, including pension funds, sovereign partners, private equity funds and development finance institutions,” the Cabinet dispatch stated.

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