Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua yesterday called for patience as the Government sorts out what he described as a dilapidated economic situation in Kenya.

Gachagua said the administration led by President William Ruto has a lot of work to do to turn around the economy, which is likely to happen in two years.

He urged Kenyans to bear with them because it is not easy, noting that there is a huge challenge in raising funds for programmes as most of  the money being collected at Treasury is going to service public debts and pay salaries.

“I said this during our inauguration day and some Kenyans had an issue that I was too truthful … truth is truth, whether there are visitors or whether we are locals. I want to reiterate, once more, for avoidance of doubt, we have inherited a dilapidated economy. In the fullness of time, we will return Kenya to where then-President Mwai Kibaki left it,” said Gachagua when he inaugurated the education task force in Nairobi yesterday.

He said several measures will be taken to address the economic situation.

“I want to give you hope that the President and I sat with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for several hours. We parted at midnight, having agreed on how to collect more revenue so that we can get about Sh3 trillion by the end of the year to be able to fund our recurrent and development budget,” Gachagua said.

He said the economy would be turned around progressively.  

– Irene Githinji