Yesterday, Thursday, October 27, 2022, President William Ruto oversaw the swearing-in of the 24 newly appointed Cabinet Secretaries at the State House.

The team of technocrats and politicians are expected to play a key role in supporting and championing the policy and legislative agenda of the new administration, including delivering on the government’s ambitious agenda of growing the economy, creating an environment that will enable citizens to generate wealth and invest in welfare programmes that improve the national wellbeing index. In his address during the opening of the 13th Parliament, Ruto spelt out the country’s debt situation, which he said hit Sh8.6 trillion in June, which calls for radical change in the country’s regime.

He also spoke at length on the need to scale up agricultural productivity and leverage technology to boost private sector innovations, among other interventions that will drive industrialisation, agro-processing and entrepreneurship. These call for targeted measures that will translate into tangible policy interventions that will inspire Kenyans to work hard, embrace innovation and grow their incomes even as the country takes measures to address the major challenges of our time, including climate change, which has caused drought, and a depressed economy that has affected consumption and savings.

For Kenya to grow into a middle-income country, Kenyans will need to develop a savings culture that will make it possible for the country to invest at least 25 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) into production activities. Already, the country has an investment-savings deficit of 15 per cent of GDP and there is urgent need for policy measures that will incentivise citizens to grow their savings and be more proactive in their investment decisions. The move to float a Ksh60 billion infrastructure bond is one step in that direction. However, a great deal of investor education is needed to ensure uptake.

Finding medium-term and long-term solutions to the many challenges Kenya faces is the biggest task ahead of the new Cabinet. This is where the real job is to be done because focusing too much on short-term solutions will be counter-productive in the long run. That is why the new CSs must move quickly and effectively fulfill the President’s campaign promises, forge relationships with key stakeholders, develop a vision for their respective ministries and build the right teams to implement them while ensuring that all interventions are aligned with the country’s Vision 2030 development agenda to build synergy across all departments, ministries and agencies.