Last week, President William Ruto scrapped the subsidy on products introduced by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Head of State said his government will focus on subsidizing production and manufacturing to make goods more affordable and stimulate economic growth.
“We are not going to be subsidizing consumption. That is why we are going slow on the matter of subsidizing consumption. We are going to work and support producers,” the president said.
However, famous Nigerian prophet Primate Ayodele has warned the first in command against removing the subsidy on consumption.
Ayodele, who correctly predicted that Ruto will win the August 9, presidential seat in round one, said removal of subsidy on consumption will hurt the hustlers more.
In a statement signed by his media aid Osho Oluwatoshi, the prophet said it was not the best time to remove the subsidy because it will force common mwananchi to dig deeper into their pockets.
“Kenya’s president William Ruto has inherited debt and there is no magic he can do that can cancel the debt immediately. He has to take things easy so he won’t shoot himself and make some pronouncements that will make people go against him,” Ayodele said.
Ruto who spoke while taking lawmakers allied to his Kenya Kwanza Alliance through his priorities in Naivasha on Friday, September 16, defended his administration’s shift from consumption-driven subsidy interventions to budget support targeting production.
Ruto cited his predecessor’s KSh7billion subsidy on maize flour saying the market suffered acute Unga shortage with most Kenyans unable to gain from the program despite the utilization of their taxes to finance it.
“The Unga subsidy that was done, I was being briefed by the Ministry of Agriculture for one month, the taxpayer was asked to pay KSh7billion for the Unga that cost KSh100 which was nowhere in the first place. Only a few people laid hold of it,” the president said.
