Are my eyes deceiving me? Am I in a dream? RUTO FOREVER!!

[Fish Mooney]

".. in terms of the project that we are seeing today number one I want to send a very very heartwarming congratulations.
And thanks to the water and all the stakeholders that have actually helped in realizing this goal. This has been our dream for over 10 years to be precise. We want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

This is a great milestone. We feel like rain has finally come. Life has finally come and we cannot... we cannot say enough thank yous ! Our gratitude, our sincere gratitude in transforming this place, our way of life, our standards of living. will greatly be enhanced. Our children now will have water, clean water to drink and yes, our environment will be catered for in a positive way. Thank you once again for the Kitengela distribution networks!

- Robert Mwangi on the Kitengela Water Project

I don't really think GoK understands the magnitude of such a simple yet game-changing event for such satellite towns.

Kitengela alone is by far the fastest growing town in Kenya period. I just researched a bit on this town. From the KNBS census of way back in 2019 (which by the way is an imperfect estimate, so the numbers could be way higher,) Kitengela has a population of a whopping 150k up from only 58k in the 2009 census on the same.

At present, I wouldn't be surprised that, 7 years on, said population has DOUBLED to 300k plus.

Going by the 2019 census alone and applying it to today's numbers, Kitengela is easily the 9th most populous town in Kenya.

This water project, which is only the first phase, will impact 50,000 people DIRECTLY and, of course tens of thousands more indirectly, but that's not the best part.

The little known fact to most Kenyans is that unlike Nairobi core with its informal settlements, these satellite towns, and Kitengela specifically are overwhelmingly MIDDLE CLASS due to ex-Nairobians and other migrants moving there to build their own homes. Let me tell you why that's important.

A corporate employee making 300k a month is already in the upper middle class realm but cannot - in almost all cases-- own a home free and clear in Nairobi core. I'm not talking cramped 12m Kilimani apartments but maisonettes with decent sized gardens and privacy, with lawns and greenery for the totos to run around in and with plenty of private parking space. Getting that in Nairobi core will cost one 30m + in the average, let alone the high end neighbourhoods.

Hence the mass migration by the same into the satellite towns. Lawyers, entrepreneurs, judges, some PS's, senior government officials and more have mass migrated to these satellite towns. Why? Road infrastructure has grown tremendously since 2002, yet they have gotten more bang for their shilling by building their own homes at sometimes fully HALF the cost of buying, yet with more space and amenities than they could get buying something in Nairobi core - if they even can afford to!

All at perhaps 10 times (or more) cheaper land costs! Human beings will always act in their own interests, seeking the best for themselves and their families. Why would you spend 30m for a semi-detached maisonette in Kahawa Sukari when they can spend way less building something bigger, more comfortable and way cheaper in a satellite town?

So what does this all mean?

Providing a critical item (clean, SOFT - as opposed to salty - water) to these huge middle class towns where water was their number ONE complaint, not only enhances their quality of life, it transforms it! You can see the joy in Mr Mwangi's face and voice! But that too is not the best part.

I will say it once again loud and clear.

Build the middle class at rapid clip, turn them into a homeownership class (with no mortgages on their homes), supply their needs/enhance their quality of life, as well as an enabling environment for them to achieve all their aspirations, and they are the ones who will AUTOMATICALLY transform the country completely with little to no additional input from GoK and let me tell you why.

As I have said elsewhere before, a middle class citizen who owns their own home is a DANGEROUS person and a key plank of national sovereignty worldwide.

The authors of the Chinese miracle understood this very well. In fact brilliantly so. Hence China's whopping 90%+ homeownership rates. With the overwhelming majority of them having no mortgages on the same.

Singapore learnt it too at 87%

Why is such a person dangerous? Because first, homeownership is the easiest path to financial security for most human beings. If the world goes to pot, a homeowner with no job can go and relax safely in his/her home without worrying about rent, grow beans and chicken in their backyard, watch tv and shout meaningless words like wantam, and survive extended economic downturns with their inbuilt home value intact, from which to make comeback. That's the worst case scenario.

Said person also AUTOMATICALLY CREATES JOBS without even trying, simply by going along their merry way living their ordinary lives. How so?

In addition to running the engines of government, parastatals and corporates (if employed) they need a domestic servant. They need a shamba boy occasionally. They need contractors/foremen while building, and fundis all the time post-construction. Electricians,  plumbers, carpenters, the works.

Isitoshe, they create business hubs wherever they cluster. Their spend power brings in the corporates to cater to it. The Quickmarts, the banks, the hotels, the salons, the gyms, the retail shops, the hospitals, the schools ..the list is virtually endless. Every single one of those entities has huge numbers of employees, suppliers, drivers and so on behind it. Again, what does this all mean?

It means the middle class has the single hugest muliplier effect on the economy and nation.

Far more than all the Kenyan billionaires combined.

Increase their numbers through education/training of our ordinary wananchi en masse, employment and programmes that cater to them ... empower them and they will create the national wealth without even knowing they are doing so. As they also increase their capital through saving, investing, farming and so on, more and more jobs and wealth are created in a beautiful, seamless wealth spiral.

This informs the booms in these satellite towns. Tens of thousands of ordinary wananchi have migrated there to be employed by or to take advantage of the middle class engendered economic booms in said towns.

That's why I say simple things like supplying water to the fastest growing town in Kenya, for example, has hidden, structural impacts, that are game changers for their middle class residents, which will draw EVEN MORE of them as they see these amenities available and want to migrate there to take advantage of them.

With apologies to Baba, if you remember his 2007 campaign launch at KICC on a cold weekday, amid wild cheers from supporters, he said the key to rapid economic development of any nation was

INFRASTRUCTURE, INFRASTRUCTURE,  INFRASTRUCTURE

Which is 100% correct. I would however modify that and add a second line in even larger and bolder print to say

and THE MIDDLE CLASS,
THE MIDDLE CLASS,
THE MIDDLE CLASS

Kenya already has one of the largest middle classes in Africa. We double it or triple it and make them all mortgage-free homeowners and we will be unstoppable.

On the water project, as I said, I am apolitical, but when politics impacts economics in a systemic way, I pay rapt attention!

More please!

Ni hayo tu.

Lovely clips.

Yes obviously the middle class is the spending class. It's why China is now sanction-proof: companies will choose 500m Chinese over 150m Americans regardless of the overall GDPs.

This is economics 101... I don't know why you are presenting it to us as a new discovery. 

It is, however, quite a tough job to lift say 50% of the population up to the middle class. Ngumu sana.

Kenya is way above the Sub Sahara average.

[.]

Dreams so big that your dreams scare others!

Sooner rather than later, even the naysayers will say enyewe things are changing for the better!

I was walking near archives in town juzi for the first time aeons and was shocked to see all the upgrades and updates there. If this continues, the sky is the limit for our beloved country.

More please!

Ni hayo tu

[.]

Lovely clips.

Yes obviously the middle class is the spending class. It's why China is now sanction-proof: companies will choose 500m Chinese over 150m Americans regardless of the overall GDPs.

This is economics 101... I don't know why you are presenting it to us as a new discovery. 

It is, however, quite a tough job to lift say 50% of the population up to the middle class. Ngumu sana.

Kenya is way above the Sub Sahara average.

Just seeing this right now.

Fish Mooney you are interesting to say the least .

If it's nothing new, then why haven't Kitengela residents had water for a whopping 63 years since independence  ?

Si it's economics 101? If yes, then it would be a no-brainer to supply the same with something as simple as water on tap, right? In order to save the economy trillions of shillings in opportunity cost of ordering bowsers at high cost. As well as in wasted man-hours solving water-dearth issues and so on since independence, no?

Then you post a curious graph without posting all the relevant concrete data for us to interrogate.

What specific metrics did you use that informs the graph?
What's middle class defined for each?
Did you adjust for PPP?
Without these basics and more, the graph isn't edifying to us.

But back to topic. You've raised a great issue. The growth of the middle class.

Going back to KNBS data, if we crunch the numbers, did folks know that ;

With mortgages in Kenya being a paltry 30,000 in absolute numbers, (which is a fantastic thing! We should, by the way, try to reduce those numbers to almost zero)....

A whopping 61% of Kenyans own their homes.

Of these, a blistering 93% of them BUILT THEIR HOMES while 3% inherited the same.

Of the 61% metric, the rural-urban divide is staggering.

A robust 85% of rural residents own their homes outright.

With only 22% of urban residents owning the same.

Haya, lets control for various factors. I think you would agree with me that;

1. Rural home values cannot be equated with urban ones, hence the discrepancy. A one bedroom house in the rural areas and a 10 room mansion in Runda are on different price scales. It is way easier to build in the former.

2. The urban zones are the cluster zones of the middle and upper classes. In absolute numbers, that is. Nairobi and surrounds being the prime cluster point. Rural-urban migration of course informs this since majority of opportunities - financial and social - are perceived to be in these urban areas.

3. Informal settlements, in Nairobi especially, as well as lower income areas mostly in Eastlands and areas like Githurai are where the majority of residents reside. 

4. The overwhelming majority of the middle class in Nairobi specifically CANNOT AFFORD to own in Nairobi core; whether by building or buying.

Therefore, if I were president, and I'm cognizant of the fact that growing the middle classes (from the urban and rural poor) i.e. the BOTTOM UP model brilliantly crafted by the WSR team, is the PRIME GOAL, I would do the following.

The FIRST ACT I would decree as soon as I warmed the presidential seat would be this;

To instruct that the ARDHISASA system be rolled out and CONCLUDED in 6 months. Worst case scenario, within ONE YEAR year.

Every single title deed in Kenya should be digitized, with a scannable barcode AND put on a blockchain system wherein tampering from lands officials becomes next to impossible.

It does not cost much.
We have the technical experts as good as any the world over.
Why has it not been done?

I know the murky land cartels who thrive under our current opaque land system, and who have succeeded in impeding the rollout of the system from way back in 2002 when Kibaki promised it, will cry rivers, but this is God's work; Kenya is bigger than them!

I don't buy the excuses that there are very complex issues -- like the land buying company titles messes in areas like Mwiki and Njiru as well as in the Rift Valley, for example, where people hold 'certificates' which are basically handwritten receipts not recognised in law as proof of ownership --as the reason why the system is taking time to roll out.

Like SHA. ROLL IT OUT NATIONWIDE FIRST, then deal with teething issues as they emerge.

RWANDA did it in record time.

Simple  IT systems - now assisted by AI - can handle a billion titles or even more comfortably. Is Kenya incompetent in achieving this simple feat?

This single feat, in my humble view, will turbocharge middle class growth overnight. Why so?

1. The middle class needs security of title. If someone has enough savings to start a game resort near Masai Mara, for example. Yet is apprehensive about legitimacy of a certain title, why would they risk their life savings doing so? They would rather perhaps invest in bonds instead which are secure and consistent. This investment creates no direct jobs and has a near-zero multiplier effect.

2. Title transfers upon purchase can be done at rocket speed once the system is trusted.

3. Literally trillions of wasted man hours and shillings will be saved from eschewing court cases, land disputes, title processing delays, fraud management and so on. I estimate that solving this alone will add 1 % GDP growth annually.

Second, I would pursue the homeowning middle class at TOP SPEED to where they are clustering to and provide all the necessary amenities to them post-haste.

The three prime ones being water (which us very low hanging fruit that doesn't cost much to implement) as well as electricity, and very basic murraming of feeder roads at the bare minimum. Upgrades and other last mile initiatives can come later. These seemingly simple amenities will boost middle class numbers by leaps and bounds.

It is no secret that the majority of peri-urban homeowners are former Nairobi residents. Hundreds of thousands more are renting cramped apartments and homes in Nairobi core. Provide the amenities and the latter will join the former in droves and become homeowners themselves.

Finally, I would continue to incentivize homeownership for the middle class through very well thought out programmes like the AHP but with one twist.

Make social housing almost free, with each occupant who gets a unit being put onto a path to ownership of the same. Some former Eastern bloc countries did this after the collapse of the USSR and the homeownership (read middle class) numbers rocketed as a result.

Finally, I would harp day and night that my dream is for every single Kenyan to have a piece of land on which they own a comfortable home no matter how modest. 

Make it the clarion call, rallying point and key plank of the Kenyan dream.

Just as was done in the now collapsing USA in the 20th Century.

The electoral campaigns frequently touted the American Dream as being ..

"A chicken in every pot, (no hunger and suffering)...with a car in every garage (implication being homeownership for everyone) to boot!"

The nation rallied brilliantly around these two seemingly simple yet revolutionary/transformative concepts and the rest, as they say, is history.

America became a wildly successful majority middle class society and the largest car-owning nation in the world.

Add to that the small matter of said country becoming the richest country in human history as a result.

I will reiterate it until I die.

THE MIDDLE CLASS
THE MIDDLE CLASS
THE MIDDLE CLASS!!

Ni hayo tu.

[.]

https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2026/02/affordable-housing-demand-booms-as-boma-yangu-sign-ups-hit-1-million/

Affordable Housing Demand Booms as Boma Yangu Sign-ups Hit 1 Million🔥🔥🔥

● 262,913 units under development in 111 constituencies across 47 counties😬🙆🏾

● Registrations outstrip supply, affirming trust and confidence in AHP Projects


As I said in the beginning.  Am I in a dream or am I in a dream 😬🙆🏾😬🙆🏾😬🙆🏾??








Which sane, right-thinking person, who desires development will say this is not STRUCTURAL, SYSTEMIC progress???

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

President Ruto hosted intellectuals from Diaspora, the faction that didn't believe in him in the past, but wote Wameokoka from what they can see in their eyes. Most people were asking the President where were all these money for Development the last 20+ years. Ruto has made sane Kenyans question a lot of things. That You can build massive homes, markets, County Industrial and aggregation parks, roads, stadia, Hostels, bridges, etc in under 3 years? Imagine him with 10 years. Even dingy Gikomba will be the one of the most developed markets in the world when ready. Those tours that use to come to Kibera or slums to take pictures and interview malnourished people are slowly disappearing Because, Kibera, will soon be one of the best places to live in the world. You have to be loser and utterly stupid not to like WSR. The man is simply a working-well oiled-integrity-driven machine. Coffee farmers, tea, sugar etc are raking profits like bandits because of new markets opened in the region and around the globe. University students no longer struggling like in the past with student funding model. Even people in Wajir, Mandera, and Northen Kenya want Ruto to be president for life because of the work he is doing in dusty villages all over the north!

[.]

How Ruto’s whirlwind global tours will reshape economy, transform lives

https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2026/06/how-rutos-whirlwind-global-tours-will-reshape-economy-transform-lives/



NAIROBI, Kenya, June 11 – In an era defined by fractured global supply chains and shifting geopolitical corridors, Kenya is aggressively scouting for new opportunities and partnerships while bolstering existing ties.

Over the past six weeks, President William Ruto has conducted an intensive, high-stakes diplomatic blitz across seven countries comprising Tanzania, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Belgium and Finland.

Moving far beyond traditional, subdued diplomacy, Nairobi’s aggressive trade-first foreign policy is locking in billions of shillings in fresh capital, securing unprecedented market access, and establishing crucial regional and trans-Eurasian infrastructure partnerships.

The visits are positioned to significantly lower the cost of doing business, create high-value jobs, and inject real wealth directly into the pockets of ordinary Kenyans.

In some quarters, these trips have been viewed from the standpoint of the expenditure, while according scant attention to the immense benefits the country will derive from these high-level tours. Yet the benefits that Kenyans will derive from these trips far outweigh the cost.

For years, Kenyan traders and manufacturers have watched their profits evaporate in grueling, bureaucratic gridlocks at border crossings. Bureaucracy, ad-hoc levies, and duplicate product testing have long choked the true potential of intra-East African commerce. Soon this will be a thing of the past as these hurdles are progressively addressed.

During his State Visit to Dar es Salaam, President Ruto and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan vowed to confront these bottlenecks headon. In a landmark declaration, the two leaders set a hard deadline of June 30, 2026, to eliminate all remaining non-tariff barriers.

The practical impact on Kenyan livelihoods will be immediate. Through a new standards-harmonization pact, product testing between the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and Shirika la Viwango Tanzania (TBS) will be fully aligned. A product cleared in Dar es Salaam will no longer face duplicate, costly inspections at Namanga or Holili.

Furthermore, the newly established Kenya-Tanzania Business Council will enforce a strict 30-day dispute resolution window. This means no more truck drivers stranded for weeks at border posts while fresh agricultural produce spoils in the heat.

For local consumers and farmers, the mutual recognition of sanitary and phytosanitary certificates means grains, eggs, milk, poultry, and fresh produce will flow seamlessly across borders. This will lower food prices at home while opening a massive, friction-free market for Kenyan farmers.

Economic transformation requires robust physical infrastructure. In Tanzania, President Ruto secured commitments that will fundamentally alter East Africa’s logistical map.

Top of the agenda was the revival of the Voi–Mwatate–Taveta railway line, which will be linked directly to Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). This rail link is projected to slice bulk cargo transport costs by up to 25 percent, positioning border towns like Taveta as booming logistical hubs and opening a highly affordable transport channel for Kenyan manufacturers into northern Tanzania.

Simultaneously, the fast-tracking of the multi-billion shilling Malindi–Bagamoyo Super Highway will establish an uninterrupted coastal economic corridor. By connecting Mombasa directly to Dar es Salaam, this highway will bypass congested inland routes, slash transit times for commuters, and spark an industrial and real estate boom along Kenya’s North Coast

In South Africa, President Ruto broke through decades of agricultural protectionism. In a major win for the Mount Kenya and Rift Valley agricultural belts, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officially lifted suspended import duties on Kenyan tea, coffee, and spices. Lowering these trade barriers restores preferential market access, allowing Kenyan smallholder farmers to export directly to the lucrative Southern African Customs Union (SACU) market.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, President Ruto secured the future of Kenya’s multi-billion shilling horticultural sector. Through strategic talks with European Council President António Costa and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Kenya cemented the practical rollout of the Kenya-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). This deal guarantees permanent duty-free and quota-free access to the 27-member European Union market, protecting the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers in Kenya’s flower, fruit, and vegetable industries

The diplomatic tour also delivered a powerful boost to Kenya’s status as Africa’s “Silicon Savannah”. In Belgium, the President secured a massive €139 million (Ksh 20+ billion) funding package from the European Union specifically earmarked for Kenya’s digital economy.

This capital injection will directly finance the expansion of the nationwide Digital Superhighway, accelerating the fiber-optic network expansion into rural areas and expanding the digitization of public services via e-Citizen. For ordinary Kenyans, this means cheaper internet, faster government services, and the creation of thousands of tech-driven jobs for the youth through localised digital hubs.

Perhaps the most forward-looking leg of the tour was the state visit to Kazakhstan, the first ever by a Kenyan Head of State. In Astana, President Ruto and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev laid out a highly ambitious roadmap to link East Africa’s financial hub with Central Asia’s industrial powerhouse.

To anchor this new relationship, Kenya is immediately opening a Consular General office in Astana, which will scale up to a full-fledged embassy next year. To get goods moving, the two countries are fast-tracking direct air cargo and passenger routes under Kazakhstan’s open skies policy, allowing Kenyan flowers, tea, and fresh produce to land in Central Asia within hours.

The cooperation goes deeper than trade. As Kenya aggressively expands its power grid to 10,000 MW by 2030 using geothermal and green energy, the partnership opens doors to Kazakhstan’s world-class expertise in uranium processing and peaceful nuclear energy.

Furthermore, by linking the Nairobi International Financial Centre with the Astana International Financial Centre, Kenya is creating an institutional channel to attract large-scale infrastructure financing. Joint research initiatives launched with the Alem.AI Centre in Astana will also bring world-class artificial intelligence training, startup incubation, and public-sector tech applications directly to Kenyan software developers.

The economic windfall also extends to Kenya’s tourism sector. In East Africa, Presidents Ruto and Samia Suluhu Hassan directed their respective ministries to establish a single-destination framework for the iconic Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.

By harmonising park fees, streamlining visa regulations for third-country international tourists, and marketing the ecosystem as a single destination, the deal eliminates the bureaucratic hurdles that previously forced tourists to choose between Kenya and Tanzania. This unified framework is set to ignite a tourism boom, translating directly into increased bookings, higher revenues, and sustainable jobs for safari guides, hospitality workers, and local beadwork artisans.

President Ruto’s recent global engagements represent a definitive shift in Kenya’s economic management. By aggressively dismantling trade barriers, opening new aviation corridors, securing tens of billions in digital infrastructure funding, and looking toward advanced tech partnerships in Central Asia, Kenya is systematically insulating its economy from regional stagnation and disruptions in global supply chains.

These visits have successfully shifted the narrative of foreign travel from political networking to highly practical deal-making. As these treaties move into full implementation, the ultimate beneficiaries will not be the diplomats in Nairobi, but the farmers, tech innovators, small-scale traders, and manufacturers whose products can now move freely, cheaply, and competitively across the globe

He he he he he, when you put a Gachagua, a Kalonso, a Maraga or a Mulmulwas Matiangi next to this man, it becomes a huge embarrassment to them all.

I'm super impressed by this man's agenda, energy and ACTION that's leading to our transformation as a country.

The non-starters wakule tu bench mpaka 2032, maybe even later as this man does his work!!

Ni hayo tu.

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

GEN Zs now want auto to rule for 24 years Kama rungu ya nyayo. Since 2022, over 1 million young people have been hired in Affordable housing, Stadia construction, digital Jobs, abroad jobs, Youth empowerments groups, Road constructions, Nairobi beautification and River regeneration etc. On the books, 1 422, 325 young people under 35 have been hired by Gava. There are also indirect jobs that cannot be quantified. Private sector from opened markets has hired even way more. President believes in the next coming years millions more will be hired.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/2076984866565845

[.]

😬😬🙆🏾🙆🏾

[.]

Kenya 🇰🇪 is the only country on the planet where the hopeless-ition is so bereft of ideas and policies that their new gripe is to say the President is "working too hard."

As Jeff would say.." you simply can't make this stuff up!"

I'm hoping the hopeless-ition will get over this strange, headless chicken phase -- a first in Kenyan history -- but it doesn't seem like that will happen any time soon.

Ni hayo  tu.

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

Kenya 🇰🇪 is the only country on the planet where the hopeless-ition is so bereft of ideas and policies that their new gripe is to say the President is "working too hard."

As Jeff would say.." you simply can't make this stuff up!"

I'm hoping the hopeless-ition will get over this strange, headless chicken phase -- a first in Kenyan history -- but it doesn't seem like that will happen any time soon.

Ni hayo  tu.

Kenya's opposition politicians, indeed, are the most hopeless politicians in the of globe. They have chosen to side with criminal activists, which often come from opposition side with the goal of tarnishing the police and the President. Demonizing hardworking must be the lows of the lows. I can only imagine if we still had runaway corruption the likes of Kemsa, Nys, Huduma,Laptop, etc.  Well, I think corruption ended in the beginning of 2023 when Ruto spend weeks making sure all Govt service migrate to digital. One of the areas where politicians were eating money was sealed and that is why a lot of people are super mad with President Ruto. Even tendering process and few other services are soon going the digital/traceable way. He will continue getting resistance through media and hopeless opposition. Change is hard, but it must and Kenya is lucky to have a work horse producing results every passing day. From 353 services to now 24000 is a very big deal. God Bless our President!

here were only 353 digitized government services available on the eCitizen Platform when the administration transitioned in September 2022. Since then, this number has rapidly expanded to over 22,000 digitized services across hundreds of agencie

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

[RV Heavy Hitter!]

In Eldodret, Phase 1 of the largest hospital ever is coming up with lighting speeds. Almost 1000 people working around the clock! The sign of UDA is wheelbarrow AKA symbol of construction. Kenya will be a different place in 5 years!
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1764379001518412