14 Executive Orders Issued By President Ruto on Day One in Power

Immediately after bein sworn into office, President William Ruto has issued several executive orders to get started his tenure as the fifth president of the republic of Kenya.

Most of the executive orders he issued were about the pledges he made during his campaigns.

Orders Issued

Judiciary funding

The President elect has directed that the Judiciary will receive an additional Sh3 billion budget allocation to the judiciary.

This he said will scale up the bottom up access of justice by increasing the number of small claims courts that will address petty cases.

Six judges

The President has appointed six judges who were nominated by the Judicial Service commission two years ago.

Ruto made the appointment on Tuesday and the six will be sworn into office Wednesday. 

The six are George Odunga, Aggrey Muchelule, and Weldon Korir who were appointed to the Court of appeal.

Judith Omange and Evans Makori who were appointed as Environment and Land Court judges are also part of the six.

Fertilizer prices

Ruto has declared that the new fertilizer prices will retail at Sh3500 down from Sh6500.

He said the new prices will take effect from next week to enable farmers to reduce the cost of production of food.

"For the short rain season, we have already made arrangements to make 1.4 million bags of fertilizer available at Ksh3,500 for a 50kg bag down from the current Ksh 6,500. This will be available from next week," the President announced. 

Financial independence of Police service

The new president has directed that the budget allocation of the Police service be transferred from the office of the President to that of the Inspector General of police.

He said the continued operation within the office of the president has affected the independence of the service.

Fuel and Unga subsidy

The President has hinted at removing subsidy imposed on the fuel and unga prices. The measures were imposed to control the skyrocketing prices of the crucial products.

"The interventions in place have not borne any fruit. On fuel subsidy alone, the taxpayers have spent a total of Ksh144 billion, a whooping Ksh 60 billion in the last 4 months. If the subsidy continues to the end of the financial year, it will cost the taxpayer Ksh 280 billion, equivalent to the entire national government development budget," he stated. 

Mombasa Port operations

Ruto said he has directed clearing of goods to get back to the port of Mombasa. This, he said will create jobs fore residents.

"I will be issuing instructions for clearing of all goods and other attendant operational issues to revert to the port of Mombasa. This restore thousands of jobs in the city of Mombasa," he announced. 

Pending Bills

He said all pending bills will be cleared as a matter of priority. He said the pending bills stood at Sh600 billion.

Build 20 Markets in Nairobi

He said the 20 markets will be built to scale up the bottom economic model.

Provincial administration to keep off politics

Ruto has directed all administrators to keep off indulging in any political activity in the country.

CRB punitive listing

The President announced that there will be a new system that will be used to score ratings of those in debt to ensure that Kenyans don't suffer by being unlisted unfairly.

Transactions exceeding Sh1 million

Ruto said his government will revisit guidelines on transactions exceeding Sh1 million. Kenyans transacting Sh1 million and above have been required to explain the source of the funds.

"In our engagements, traders also complained about the onerous burden involved in cash transactions exceeding Kshs 1 million. Many have reverted to storing money under their mattresses at great risk, which is clearly not the intention of the anti-money laundering regulations. While we remain fully committed to mitigating this risk, we believe that there is scope to make compliance less burdensome on genuine business transactions. I have been assured by the Central Bank that work on how to ease this burden without compromising the security of the financial system is underway," the Head of State affirmed. 

Hustler Fund

Ruto said his government will implement the Hustler fund to make access to credit affordable.

Housing

Ruto said his government will address a low cost housing programme targeting 250,000 low cost housing units a year.

Jua Kali

He said the Jua Kali sector will provide customized products for the housing programme.