<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"> <div> <div class="image-wrap"> </div> <noscript> <img src="" width="450"> </noscript> </div> <p class="imageCaption mol-para-with-font">Since being elected, <a href="http://patrick-fischer.de/index.php?title=User:JungMonaghan" rel="dofollow">EvdEN eVE NAKLiYat</a> Kenya's President William Ruto has travelled across Africa and beyond touting Kenya's economic potential</p><img src="https://evigetir.com/ankara/sliderimages/4.png" width="450" style="max-width:450px;max-width:440px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;"> </div> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Kenyan shop attendant Winnie Wanjiru Mwaura was brimming with hope when she signed up to be an election agent for William Ruto during the August 9 polls and elated when he became president.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">But barely 100 days after the rags-to-riches businessman took office on September 13, the 21-year-old wants nothing to do with him.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"Life has only become worse under him," the first-time voter told AFP.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Ruto came to power casting himself as a champion for the downtrodden, vowing to create jobs and tackle a cost-of-living crisis that has left many Kenyans struggling to put food on the table.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"If we take care of the bottom, we take care of everybody," the 56-year-old leader once told a campaign meeting, outlining his plan for a "bottom-up" economic transformation.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Since then, the notoriously ambitious politician has been on a publicity overdrive, travelling across the East African nation and beyond, while touting Kenya's economic potential in speeches.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">As far as voters like Mwaura are concerned however, Ruto has done far too little to improve the lot of ordinary Kenyans in a country where about a third of the population lives in poverty.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">- 'Not very strategic' -</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Ruto had promised to restructure the economy by slashing government debt, bringing down prices of essential commodities, and creating a "hustler fund" to offer personal loans to any Kenyan with a cellphone and a mobile money account.</p> <div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"> <div> <div class="image-wrap"> </div> <noscript> <img src="" width="450"> </noscript> </div> <p class="imageCaption mol-para-with-font">The new administration created a "hustler fund" to offer personal loans to any Kenyan with a cellphone and <a href="https://evigetir.com/tips.html" rel="dofollow">EVdeN eVe NAKLiyaT</a> a mobile money account</p> </div> <p class="mol-para-with-font">But his first act after assuming office was to slash food and fuel subsidies introduced by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">While Ruto argued that the interventions had "not borne any fruit", their removal was a request from the International Monetary Fund, a major lender to the East African economic powerhouse.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Experts called it a rash decision.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"The move to remove the fuel subsidy was not very strategic as it has led to a slower economy, rising inflation and higher interest rates," Ken Gichinga, chief economist at business analytics firm Mentoria Economics, told AFP.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">The Central Bank of Kenya raised interest rates by a cumulative 1. If you loved this informative article and you wish to receive more details regarding <a href="https://evigetir.com/iletisim.html" rel="dofollow">eVDen eve nAkliYAT</a> please visit our web site. 75 percent in 2022, the most in seven years, while inflation soared to a five-year high of 9.6 percent in October.</p> <div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"> <div> <div class="image-wrap"> </div> <noscript> <img src="" width="450"> </noscript> </div> <p class="imageCaption mol-para-with-font">Ruto will mark his one hundredth day in the job on Thursday</p> </div> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Even Ruto's pet project, the 50<a href="https://www.hometalk.com/search/posts?filter=-billion-shilling" rel="dofollow">-billion-shilling</a> ($408-million) "hustler fund", has sparked controversy, with some accusing him of reneging on promises to make the credit scheme interest-free.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">The fund, launched last month, will offer personal loans of up to 50,000 Kenyan shillings, with interest charged at eight percent a year -- lower than the rate of inflation.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Borrowers have already complained of difficulty in getting loans higher than 1,000 Kenyan shillings approved, despite the fund's stated objective of boosting financial access for the country's poorest citizens.</p> <div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"> <div> <div class="image-wrap"> </div> <noscript> <img src="" width="450"> </noscript> </div> <p class="imageCaption mol-para-with-font">About a third of Kenya's population lives in poverty</p> </div> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"They inflated the prices of goods, then give you a 500-shilling loan which can only buy two packets of maize flour," Michael Wafula, a 35-year-old mechanic, told AFP.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">For shop attendants like Mwaura, who earns just 700 Kenyan shillings a day, the fund will do little to change her fortunes.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Still, she borrowed 1,000 Kenyan shillings to pay for a trip to the hair salon.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"I used the loan to get my hair braided," she said.<p> </p><p> </p>
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"What else can one do with a 1,000-shilling loan?"</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">- 'The ship is floating' -</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Ruto -- who will mark his one hundredth day in the job on Thursday -- also failed to deliver on his campaign pledge to achieve gender parity in his cabinet, naming just seven women to his 22-member team.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Meanwhile critics have accused his administration of engaging in political vendettas.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Earlier this month, four election commission officials who had cast doubt on the poll results that brought him to power, were suspended by the government.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"They are not behaving like they are in power; they are still fighting wars that you would expect to be fought during an election," political analyst Herman Manyora told AFP.</p> <div class="artSplitter mol-img-group"> <div> <div class="image-wrap"> </div> <noscript> <img src="" width="450"> </noscript> </div> <p class="imageCaption mol-para-with-font">Kenya's President William Ruto failed to deliver on his campaign pledge to achieve gender parity in his cabinet</p> </div> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Despite a "disappointing" start however, Manyora, who supported Ruto's opponent Raila Odinga during the polls, said it was too early to dismiss the president and <a href="https://www.kiwitravellers2017.com/2023/04/09/brazilian-ghost-aircraft-carrier-gets-a-reprieve-7/" rel="dofollow">eVDeN EVe nAKliYAT</a> his team.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"We would give them five out of 10 because the ship is floating," he said, adding that he was cautiously hopeful.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">For Ruto's hustler voter base however, the verdict is already a foregone conclusion.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">"Ruto has a sweet tongue but I haven't seen anything from the new administration," said a car washer, who gave her first name as Jane.</p></div><p> </p><p> </p>
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