All eyes will this afternoon be on President William Ruto as he delivers his State Of The Nation (SOTN) address at a time when Kenyans are grappling with high cost of living.

Ruto is expected to outline his government’s agenda for the coming year as well as explain measures they are undertaking to bring down the cost of food prices.

Head of State is also expected to report on all measures taken and progress achieved in realisation of the national values referred to in Article 10 as well as submit a report for debate to the two Houses of Parliament outlining the progress made in fulfilling the international obligations of the Republic.

He is also expected to publish details of these measures and progress in the Gazette.

The State of the Nation Address is delivered in accordance with Article 132 (1) of the Constitution which provides for the President to address a special sitting of Parliament once every year where he is expected to report on all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realisation of the national values.

The address comes two days after Ruto directed MPs allied to Kenya Kwanza coalition to be present during the address.

Ruto made the appeal when he chaired a Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group Meeting attended by over 200 MPs and Senators at State House on Tuesday.

The MPs, however, used the meeting to demand that he urgently deals with the high cost of living which has continued to get worse in the recent months. The MPs claimed that the situation was getting out of hand and thus demanded that they come up with measures such as reducing taxes to be able to lower the cost of pump prices.

Yesterday, MPs from both sides of the political divide cited the weakening shilling, high cost of living and increase in pump prices as the issues they expect Ruto to address.

Molo MP Kimani Kuria said he expected President Ruto to talk about the issue of pump prices although the matter is not entirely in his hands.

Tharaka MP George Murugara said that he hopes the president will talk about debt issues, inflation and the level of investment that Kenya is doing to attract investors.

He said: “It is one year after the election and we don’t expect any politics on this. We also expect him to tell us how his government has performed in the last one year.”

Mukurweini MP George Kaguchia said he expects the President to talk about the hits and misses of his government since he took over power in August last year.

He said: “We expect the President to address the issue of the performance of his government for the whole year. We expect him to give us an update of hits and misses in terms of areas like subsidy, fertilizer, Junior Secondary School (JSS), higher education, registration of seniors and the interventions they are taking in terms of debt reduction.”

Major issue

He added: “We also expect him to give us hope on areas of misses like sky rocketing fuel prices, the weakening shilling and also tell us how we will mitigate this.”

Karachuonyo MP Adipo Kuome said that the major issue that Ruto should focus on is the high cost of living as this has affected all Kenyans.

Kuome also said that he hopes that he would address the issue of weakening shilling which if not checked will destabilise the country. He said: “I would expect the president to say something on the cost of living, I would like him to also mention something on the cost of fuel which is getting worse. I would also want him to say something on the unstable shilling so that we know what to do as a country.”

Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo on her part asked President William Ruto to prioritize on lowering the high cost of living which she says has made living difficult for Kenyans.

Gogo said numerous Kenyan households have been forced to adopt frugal measures as they navigate their lives on a day-to-day basis, with a balanced diet becoming a luxury that only a few can afford.

Frugal measures

“Today the focus has shifted solely to the availability of sustenance, regardless of its nutritional value. The president should place the high cost of living as his foremost priority,” said Gogo.

Gogo said numerous Kenyan households have been forced to adopt frugal measures as they navigate their lives on a day-to-day basis, with a balanced diet becoming a luxury that only a few can afford.

“Today, the focus has shifted solely to the availability of sustenance, regardless of its nutritional value. The President should place the high cost of living as his foremost priority,” said Gogo.

According to the legislator, analysts have pointed out that a majority of Kenyans now depend on one meal a day to survive as the cost of commodities such as maize flour, cooking oil, and sugar surge.

Low-income households experienced a challenging 2022 because of the increased cost of living, said Rose Ngugi, Director of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, or KIPPRA.

“When food inflation is going up, then everybody is affected, and more so the low-income households, who spend about 60 per cent of their income on food,” Ngugi said.

KIPPRA recently released the Kenya Economic Report 2023, which said officials tried this year to reduce 2022’s inflation rate of 9.6 per cent to a range of 2.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent, the targeted range of Kenya’s Central Bank.

The report said 77 per cent of workers earned less than the minimum wage, which covers approximately half of living costs. Their complaints come at a time when Energy Cabinet Secretary David Chirchir has been flip-flopping on surge in pump prices as he backtracked on an earlier statement that fuel prices could hit Sh300 due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

“We can’t do much on the international prices of petroleum. Because of the Hamas and Israeli war, international prices could go up to USD150 (per barrel). That would literally mean our products going to a high of Shh300 per litre at the pump. We hope it doesn’t get there, Chirchir said in a statement on Monday.”

But a day later he retracted, saying the oil market was on its way to recovery.

He said: “In my Monday statement, I was simply quoting an international journal which had given details on the repercussions of the conflict in the Middle East which warned that prices would double to USD150 should the war continue.”