President William Ruto has credited his predecessor, retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, for giving him the time that enabled him to draft the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, saying much of its content builds on foundations laid by previous administrations.

Speaking during an event at the State House, Nairobi on Tuesday, July 17, 2026, Ruto reflected on the process of writing the manifesto, describing it as a document he remains proud of.

“I remember when we prepared the Kenya Kwanza manifesto, and I am very proud about the manifesto that we wrote. Sometimes I ask myself how we managed to write such a manifesto,” Ruto said.

Ruto’s 2-year leave

The president revealed that Uhuru Kenyatta granted him a leave of absence for about two years, a period he says he used to prepare the policy blueprint alongside his team.

“And I want to thank my predecessor, President Uhuru Kenyatta. He gave me leave of… leave of absence for like two years. And I used that time to write this manifesto, with David and colleagues. We sat in my office in Karen, and we went through…” he said.

Ruto said the Kenya Kwanza manifesto was not a departure from previous government programmes but rather a continuation of reforms initiated by successive administrations.

“Most of what is in that manifesto has a huge element of continuity. Whether it is on education, on health, on housing, on agriculture… it has a big reflection on what we had tried to do in Jubilee under President Uhuru,” he said.

Education reforms

The Head of State traced the evolution of education reforms across different governments, saying each administration had made significant contributions to expanding access to education.

He credited Kenya’s first president with laying the foundation for the education sector, former President Daniel arap Moi with expanding institutions of learning, former President Mwai Kibaki with introducing free primary education, and Kenyatta with implementing the 100 per cent transition policy.

Ruto said his administration has focused on supporting the policy by investing in infrastructure and teachers.

“It has been my responsibility to make sure that when we have 100% transition, we have the classrooms. That’s why we’ve built 23,000 classrooms to eliminate the gaps that were there. We must have enough teachers, that’s why we’ve hired 100,000 teachers,” he said.

He also announced that the government’s revised higher education funding model has reached Parliament for consideration.

“We have in Parliament the final version of how we are going to make higher education universal,” Ruto said, expressing optimism that the reforms will improve access to university and college education.