Kenya: Ruto Maintains Handshake to Blame for High Cost of Living

Nairobi — United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential flagbearer William Ruto has blamed the handshake as one of the reasons for the current high cost of living in the country.

DP Ruto said Thursday in an interview with KTN News that the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate Raila Odinga made it impossible for the Jubilee administration to implement the Big 4 agenda which Ruto argues would have helped cushion Kenyans against high food prices.

He noted that agriculture was the main component of the Big 4 Agenda but failed to materialize following the handshake.

“Unfortunately, we lost the opportunity to implement the Big 4 for reasons every Kenyan knows. That is the reason why in 2018 before the handshake the price of Unga was at 90 shillings today it is Sh 230 going to Sh 250 because we dropped the ball,” Ruto said.

Ruto said that the plan was to have a fertilizer subsidy program which he notes was dropped two years ago blaming it partly for the current situation.

“If you don’t support the farmers to produce. It is simple, the scale is supply and demand. When supply goes down demands goes up, prices go up, and that is where we are,” he added.

He stated that the cost of living is a reality that the Kenyans all over the country are grappling with.

DP Ruto said that in their Kenya Kwanza Manifesto they had identified agriculture as the solution to the cost of living noting that it is the most competitive sector in the country.”

“If we go back, why we have as Kenya Kwanza identified agriculture as the place where we can not only reduce the cost of living, but we can also increase incomes and facilitate agroprocessing value addition and the whole value chain of manufacturing, is because agriculture has very quick returns,” he said.

He pointed out agriculture has the quickest return on nay investment adding that it has has the highest multiplier effect on all the other sectors including job creation, agroprocessing amongst other sectors.

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