'Tuko kadi,' Ruto says as he unveils SGR extension

President William Ruto at the official launch of Kisumu-Malaba SGR at Kibos, Kisumu County. [Michael Mute, Standard]

President William Ruto now says his administration’s development agenda is on track, despite challenges in the health and education sectors.

Speaking on Saturday in Kisumu during the launch of Phase 2C of the Kisumu-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Ruto defended ongoing projects and said they are driving the country’s transformation.

He cited road construction, the Talanta Stadium, and the planned upgrade of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as key projects. He also invited critics to support the government’s development agenda.

“I want to announce to those who want to compete with us that our development plans are ongoing, we are transforming Kenya na tuko tayari na tuko kadi,” he said, riding on the trendy movement by young people mobilizing each other to register as voters.

Ruto said the progress is evident even to critics who had doubted his administration.

“Even the naysayers…even those who never believed in what we are doing, those who said nothing was happening today, they confess with their own mouth that indeed Kenya is undergoing transformation.”

He also defended the SGR project, which had previously been criticised as a “railway to nowhere.”

“It was never a railway to nowhere. It has always been a railway to prosperity and transformation,” he said.

Ruto said the Kisumu-Malaba SGR is expected to cut freight costs by 40 per cent per tonne per kilometre and reduce transit time by 30 per cent. Cargo currently takes about 80 hours to move from Mombasa to Malaba.

He added that the Malaba-Kampala-Kasese railway project has been awarded and is underway, according to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni.