Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to retire after the 2022 General Election having served his two-term constitutional limit.
Deputy President William Ruto the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party presidential election front runner Raila Odinga are among the four candidates cleared by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to vie for the presidency.
Ruto will be seeking to succeed his boss on a United Democratic Alliance party ticket while Raila Odinga will be vying on a coalition party ticket.
The two main contenders who are considered to be the front runners in the State House race have pledged to make radical changes should they be voted in.
To drum up support for their presidential bids, the duo have both promised initiatives targeting the poor, women, youth, and small-scale traders, and incentives for manufacturing, agriculture, and other key economic drivers.
For instance, Raila who will be giving his fifth and presumably the last attempt at the presidency has in his first 100 days in office promised to approve funds to increase the monthly stipend for needy families from KSh2, 000 to KSh6, 000.
He has also pledged to absorb all jobless teachers into the government payroll, re-introduce Guaranteed Minimum Returns for farmers and roll out universal health insurance care dubbed “Baba Care”.
The ODM leader has further promised to improve security, fight corruption, introduce a digital economy, support Medium and Small Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) and introduce a livestock insurance scheme.
On his part, Raila’s arch-rival William Ruto has pledged to establish a KSh 50 billion Hustlers’ Fund as well as allocate 50 percent of his Cabinet to women.
Ruto who has bitterly fallen out with President Uhuru Kenyatta has further pledged to implement the problematic two-thirds gender rule for appointive and elected officials, and halt allegedly selective investigation and prosecution of corruption cases.
He further said he will allocate funds to all the 47 counties for the realization of economic charters, and appoint the six nominated judges that President Uhuru Kenyatta rejected.
While Raila says he will use the KSh 2 billion President Uhuru said are stolen every day to actualize his plan, Ruto has remained vague on how he will actualize his Hustlers Fund if elected.
