Rare show: Ruto applauds Uhuru for boosting Kenyan electricity access
The praises President William Ruto has for his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, are few and far in between.
His presidential campaigns were largely based on bashing Mr Kenyatta’s policies and accused him of tanking the economy with his policies and politics.
This has been his and Kenya Kwanza’s politics since ascending to power in September 2023.
Six months ago, President Ruto praised Uhuru Kenyatta’s peace keeping efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo by saying, “You may wish to know that my predecessor and myself were on different sides of the political contest two months ago, and the competition was stiff. But after the election, I met his excellency the President, looked him in the eye and told him.
Mr President, you have started a very important process in EAC, I would like you to continue that process’, and he told me he was ready to do it. Despite all that had gone on, because of the interest of our nation, region and continent, and because peace is important to Kenya, DRC and to our region, President Kenyatta has done a wonderful job as he facilitates this process. Because collectively as a country we value peace.”
On June 20, 2023, President Ruto once again indirectly praised former president Uhuru Kenyatta as he addressed the Africa Energy Forum that was held at the Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi. This was in relation to the Last Mile electricity connectivity program that Uhuru Kenyatta launched during his tenure and how many households accessed many more opportunities because of this.
“With an installed electricity generation capacity of 3,322 MW, Kenya has made significant achievements in electricity access over the past seven years. It raised connectivity from below 30 % in 2013 to over 77% currently. This success was driven by a robust policy and regulatory framework that enabled both public and private investments in the power sector to profitably invest in expanding access throughout the country.
Sustainable energy development requires sufficient scale to ensure universal energy access and affordability. There exists more opportunities to bridge the energy access gap and ensure that both urban and rural areas, underserved communities, and marginalised groups have access to the energy they need to thrive,” said President Ruto.
In May 2023, the Kenya Power Company embarked on phase 4 of the Last Mile electricity connection project with the intention of connecting 280,473 houses in 32 counties to the tune of Sh26.8 billion.
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