After impressing the world with his address at the 77th United Nations General Assembly, Kenyans were waiting for some local joy during President William Ruto's speech at the opening of our 13th Parliament. This, of course, coming days after his nomination of Cabinet Secretaries and Cabinet-level advisers earlier in the week. It was a brief address, but there was enough in it to confirm that President Ruto is laser-focused on the economy, and the role of hustlers in its transformation.

It was no surprise, therefore, that he spent a good part of his speech referencing what I refer to as Kenya Kwanza's "Front Five" in "The Plan". We heard about low-cost fertiliser, and the principle around subsidising production rather than consumption. We agreed with his calls on access to credit and efforts to improve credit referencing and reporting. The Sh50 billion Hustler Fund promise remains, with the "new news" being that it will be leveraged on technology.

Mass production of affordable housing will be supported by land provision and, yes, cheap and stable funding. Legislative proposals for housing development via off-take plans to attract and guarantee private sector participation are in the works. We might soon have IWPs - Independent Water Producers - as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) framework for water, as is the case with electricity. Some may ask if we should be privatising water, as we have essentially already done with other Article 43 socio-economic rights in the Constitution such as education and health.