Safina Party Deputy Leader Willis Otieno has challenged President William Ruto’s remarks on entrepreneurship, arguing that access to loans alone cannot transform Kenya’s small business sector.

In a post shared on X on Sunday, June 28, 2026, Otieno responded the day after President Ruto presided over this year’s World MSME Day celebrations at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.

During the event, the Head of State unveiled the Revised MSMEs Policy 2026 and urged commercial banks to increase lending to micro, small and medium enterprises.

William Ruto’s speech at KICC

Also, President Ruto noted that although commercial banks had advanced about Ksh1 trillion to the MSME sector over the last three years, financing remained inadequate compared to the sector’s needs.

He said the government had also disbursed Ksh90 billion through the Hustler Fund to more than 27 million Kenyans, while over eight million people had been removed from the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) blacklist as part of efforts to expand financial inclusion.

“The uncomfortable truth remains: The vast majority of micro and small enterprises, the very backbone of our economy, have remained outside that flow of capital,” Ruto said.

Willis Otieno’s response

Reacting to the President’s remarks, Otieno argued that access to financing is only one component of building successful businesses.

“Entrepreneurs are not created by loans alone. They are built through affordable credit, low production costs, reliable electricity, stable taxes, access to markets, and a predictable business environment,” he wrote.

The constitutional lawyer further questioned what he described as an overreliance on borrowing as an economic strategy.

“This administration behaves as though borrowing is an economic strategy. It isn’t. Borrowing without expanding productive capacity only deepens the debt burden,” he added.

Debate on MSME growth

The exchange reflects an ongoing debate over how best to stimulate Kenya’s MSME sector, which contributes about 40 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and employs millions of Kenyans.

While the government has maintained that initiatives such as the Hustler Fund, the Revised MSMEs Policy 2026 and expanded access to formal credit will help unlock business growth, Otieno contends that broader structural reforms are equally important.

His comments add to the wider public discussion on the business environment, with economists and policymakers continuing to debate the balance between increasing access to credit and addressing challenges such as the cost of electricity, taxation, production costs and market access.

By the time of publication, the government had not responded specifically to Otieno’s comments.

However, President Ruto’s address focused on expanding financial inclusion and encouraging commercial banks to increase lending to small businesses as part of the government’s broader economic agenda.

More Articles

---