Kipruto Arap Kirwa dismisses Ruto’s Singapore dream as re-election talk
By Mustafa Juma, December 17, 2025Former Cabinet Minister Kipruto Arap Kirwa has questioned President William Ruto’s vision of transforming Kenya into a Singapore-like economic powerhouse.
Speaking on the night of Wednesday, December 17, 2025, during an interview with one of the local TV stations, Arap Kirwa warned that the government has lost public trust due to unfulfilled promises and shifting political narratives.
Kirwa, who once argued that he would make a difference should he become president for five months, said he remains deeply sceptical of the government’s ambitious development agenda, arguing that credibility, not vision, is now the country’s biggest challenge.
“I get worried when we are dealing with the government because we have lost a lot of trust in it. We have lost a lot of trust given the fact that they have been making so many promises and they hardly achieve any,” he said.
He suggested that Ruto’s latest push to position Kenya as Africa’s version of Singapore may be more political than practical, linking it to the president’s 2027 re-election ambitions rather than a clear, achievable economic roadmap.
Hustler versus dynasties narrative
The former minister also singled out the ‘hustler versus dynasties’ narrative that defined Ruto’s successful 2022 presidential campaign, saying the slogan has since faded from government discourse.
Kirwa went ahead to also single out the Hustler Fund, once marketed as a flagship empowerment programme for low-income Kenyans, claiming it has all but disappeared from the government’s books and left behind unresolved financial questions.
“Possibly this is another dream for the reelection of the President. In the last election, his narrative was the hustler versus the dynasties; you no longer hear about the hustlers. Even the hustler fund seems to have disappeared in the books of the government, with a lot of debt that has not been redeemed,” Kirwa remarked.
Ruto tells off critics
However, Ruto has been blasting those opposed to his game plan of transforming the country to match Malaysia, Singapore, China, and other Asian countries.
Ruto has insisted that it is doable, since most of the developed nations in Asia were on the same level as Kenya a few decades ago.
His vision has, however, faced criticism from a section of leaders, who have been citing massive corruption in government as a major hindrance.