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Ruto Inauguration and First 100 Days

3 min read

William Ruto was inaugurated as Kenya's fifth president on September 13, 2022, at Kasarani Stadium before a crowd of over 60,000 people and dozens of African heads of state. The ceremony marked the first democratic transfer of power from one elected president to another in Kenya's history where the sitting president's preferred successor lost. Uhuru Kenyatta had backed Raila Odinga against his own deputy, making Ruto's victory both a political triumph and a personal vindication.

In his inaugural address, Ruto laid out an ambitious bottom-up economic transformation agenda centered on what he called the "hustler nation." He promised to prioritize small and medium enterprises, agriculture, and affordable housing. The speech was populist in tone but specific in policy commitments: he pledged to lower the cost of living, create jobs for youth, and end the culture of public debt accumulation. He spoke of a Kenya where "every voice counts, every dream matters, and every citizen has a stake in the future." The messaging was designed to contrast sharply with the Kenyatta administration's infrastructure-heavy, top-down approach.

The first cabinet appointments, announced in late September 2022, signaled Ruto's governing philosophy. He named Musalia Mudavadi as Prime Cabinet Secretary, a newly created position that reflected the Kenya Kwanza Coalition power-sharing arithmetic. Rigathi Gachagua, his running mate from Mount Kenya, became Deputy President. The cabinet included technocrats like former Central Bank governor Njuguna Ndung'u as Treasury CS, alongside political loyalists who had stood with Ruto during his years in the political wilderness. Notably absent were any allies of Uhuru Kenyatta, marking a clean break from the previous administration.

The first 100 days were defined by economic shock therapy. On September 14, 2022, barely 24 hours after inauguration, the government removed fuel subsidies that had been keeping petrol prices artificially low. The price of fuel spiked immediately. Ruto defended the decision as fiscally necessary, arguing that the subsidy was costing the country KES 144 billion annually and benefiting the wealthy more than the poor. It was a bitter pill, and the public backlash was immediate. Critics accused him of betraying his hustler base. Ruto countered that the alternative was economic collapse.

By December 2022, three months into his presidency, Ruto had launched the Hustler Fund, a digital lending platform designed to provide affordable credit to small businesses and informal workers. He commissioned affordable housing projects in several counties and announced the fertilizer subsidy program for farmers. His government also moved quickly to engage the International Monetary Fund (IMF), signaling commitment to fiscal discipline and structural reforms. The early presidency was a sprint of policy rollouts, some popular, many painful.

The first 100 days established a pattern that would define Ruto's leadership: bold promises, rapid execution, and a willingness to absorb short-term political pain for what he framed as long-term economic stability. Whether this would translate into sustained public support remained uncertain, but the direction was clear. This was not going to be a cautious presidency.

See Also

Sources

  1. "William Ruto sworn in as Kenya's fifth president," BBC News, September 13, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62893383
  2. "Ruto's first 100 days: Bold moves and bitter pills," The East African, December 22, 2022. https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/ruto-first-100-days-4054662
  3. "Kenya removes fuel subsidy hours after Ruto inauguration," Reuters, September 14, 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenya-removes-fuel-subsidy-hours-after-ruto-inauguration-2022-09-14/
  4. "President Ruto names cabinet," Daily Nation, September 27, 2022. https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ruto-names-cabinet-3959446

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