Economic reforms and healthcare top on the agenda of today's Cabinet retreat in Nyeri

President William Ruto. [Kelly Ayodi, Standard]

President William Ruto will today host a Cabinet retreat in Nyeri.

At the meeting, the president is expected to impress upon his Cabinet secretaries to take ‘full charge’ of their dockets and explore solutions to the high costs of living.

The retreat will also discuss how to reverse policies that Ruto’s administration claims were developed in the previous regime to control supply chains and benefit a few individuals.

Sources within Cabinet alleged that some business networks overtook government in planning, tendering and awards, in the process crushing competition and inflating prices.

“These cartels are in all sectors and were secretly fighting back. We have to stop them or else we won’t provide competent services to Kenyans,” said a CS. Among the issues to be discussed are universal health care, food security, climate change plans, the second phase of the Hustler Fund, and the creation of a commission on state capture, among others.

The president has already scrapped the Sh25 billion monthly subsidy programmes.

The meeting will look into the flow of goods and services by eliminating unnecessary costs and players to create a simple and smooth network chain that will ensure that all Kenyans have access to quality government services.

Presidential Communication Service (PCS) Press Secretary Emmanuel Talam told The Standard last Sunday that the five-day Cabinet meeting will bring together Cabinet secretaries, permanent secretaries, and members of the advisory council.

“It’s an inaugural executive working retreat bringing together members of the executive that include CSs, PSs, and members of the advisory council,” Talam told The Standard on the phone.

Other issues to be discussed include improving security, taming public debt and how the government can restore trust among Kenyans in service delivery. The president has repeatedly promised to weed out cartels in all sector of the economy. “”Leave it to me. Nikiweka bibibilia tu chini on Tuesday, ni mimi na wao,” Ruto at one point remarked.

Among the issues to be discussed is means and ways through which the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) can run smoothly. Others to be addressed are the rigid license regimes and unnecessary, hostile bureaucratic red-tape. The Nyeri Cabinet meeting comes three months after the August 9 General Election.

It also comes at a time recent opinion polls have shown the president’s approval ratings have reduced largely due to what polled Kenyans say is the delay or failure by the government to bring down the cost of living.