Speaking at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, in the presence of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the President delivered his fifth Mashujaa Day address, the last before voters return to the ballot box next year. Usawa ni Sawa, a rallying call for fairness, unity and shared responsibility, ran through the speech as the idea meant to bind Kenyans into one project: a republic oriented around dignity and opportunity, with everyone having a hand in building it. For the first time, the celebrations were co-hosted by Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties.
The event came after a week of development tours by the President across the North Rift, and against a backdrop of public worry over the cost of living, fuel prices, unemployment and preparedness for an Ebola outbreak.
Honoring the heroes
The President opened by paying tribute to the men and women who won Kenya's independence. He recalled Koitalel Arap Samoei, who was assassinated by a British colonial officer in 1905, as well as Mekatilili wa Menza, Dedan Kimathi, Field Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima, and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta with the Kapenguria Six.
He also announced that he would later launch the autobiography of the late Achieng' Oneko, titled The Price of Freedom. Mr Ruto said freedom is not only an inheritance to enjoy but a responsibility to fulfil, and that each generation must add its own contribution to nation-building.
Four new measures
The highlight of the address was the announcement of four proposals, which the President said are meant to ease burdens on ordinary Kenyans:
1. PAYE exemption: Kenyans earning Ksh 32,333 or less per month would be exempted from Pay As You Earn income tax. The proposals will be taken to Parliament starting next week.
2. Stamp duty relief: Land transactions valued at Ksh 1 million or less would be exempt from stamp duty, with progressive rates for higher-value transactions.
3. Cheaper phones: The 25 per cent import duty on mobile phones would be removed, with the President describing a phone as a gateway to the digital economy rather than a luxury.
4. Paid internships: From January 1, 2027, the national internship programme would expand to 50,000 young Kenyans receiving a monthly stipend, placed through a digital, merit-based system, with incentives for private employers.
Mr Ruto said the necessary legislative, fiscal and administrative processes would follow, with attention to sustainable financing and transparency.
A four-year report card
The President defended his record with figures that have not been independently verified in this report. His economic headline was that the value of the stock market has doubled, from Ksh 2 trillion to Ksh 4 trillion. He added that foreign direct investment rose from $1.5 billion in 2022 to $3.2 billion in 2025 and that Kenya is now Africa's seventh-largest economy. He said more than 10 million Kenyans borrow from the Hustler Fund, which has disbursed Ksh 98 billion, and that another Ksh 5 billion will be injected before year-end.
On agriculture, he said a bag of fertiliser now costs Ksh 2,000 against Ksh 7,500 in 2022, maize output has risen from 34.3 million to 71 million bags, and 8.9 million farmers have been registered. He said farmers' prices have improved in coffee, tea and dairy, with dairy farmers to receive Ksh 65 per litre from this month plus a Ksh 2 monthly bonus paid quarterly.
On health, he said beneficiaries under the Social Health Authority number 33.3 million compared with 7 million under the old NHIF, and that Ksh 107 billion has been paid to facilities since January. On education, he cited the recruitment of over 100,000 teachers, 23,000 new classrooms and growth in TVET admissions from about 300,000 to 1.3 million.
On housing, he said 303,910 homes are at various stages of development, and that on Sunday keys were handed to 2,157 families at the Pioneer Affordable Housing Estate in Eldoret. He also pointed to a string of road, rail and energy projects, including oil exports from the Lake Turkana Basin targeted to start in December, and the sale of a 25 per cent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company to private investors a day earlier.
Targets and the road to 2027
Looking ahead, the President set three-year targets of two million digital jobs, one million international work opportunities and two million jobs linked to housing and related investments, backed by a National Infrastructure Fund.
On the demonstrations that have marked his term, Mr Ruto struck a conciliatory note. Rather than casting the young Kenyans who took to the streets over taxation, the cost of living and joblessness as adversaries in a personal contest between government and the governed, he described their protests as a reminder that a mandate does not silence citizens between elections. Citizens, he said, keep the right to question government and demand better, and leaders must listen and remain answerable. The message was that such civic pressure, met with accountability, is part of how the nation moves forward.
He urged a politics of track record, vision and plan rather than what he called ethnic choreography and personality attacks, and defended the broad-based government formed two years ago.
Sports, security and the baton
Fitting the Eldoret setting, Mr Ruto paid tribute to Kenya's athletics heritage, from Wilson Kiprugut and Kipchoge Keino to the 1972 Olympic relay gold winners and today's stars such as Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet. He promised to complete the stadium's canopy in the coming months and spoke of the investments being made ahead of Kenya's co-hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations with Uganda and Tanzania, including the Raila Odinga International Stadium and Kasarani.
As Commander-in-Chief, Mr Ruto also gave the security services their flowers, saluting the Kenya Defence Forces, National Police Service, National Intelligence Service, Prisons Service and National Police Reservists for keeping the country safe, often far from their families and without public recognition. He remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice and called the officers heroes of the nation too.
Closing with a relay-race metaphor, the President said Kenyans inherited the baton of freedom and must pass on the baton of opportunity. He ended with his rallying calls, "Usawa ni sawa. Mbele Pamoja."
Achievement or applause?
The speech invites an obvious question: where does a genuine success story end and a President blowing his own trumpet begin? Doubling the stock market's value from Ksh 2 trillion to Ksh 4 trillion is a real marker of investor confidence, and it suits an address billed as an account to the people. But a rising market is not the same as a fuller wallet, and the speech landed amid public worry over living costs, fuel prices and unemployment. The numbers are the government's own, and the line between success and self-praise will be drawn by households rather than by the podium.
The new promises will test the claim. The PAYE exemption for those earning Ksh 32,333 or less, the stamp duty waiver, the removal of the phone duty and the paid internships are proposals, and their fate rests with Parliament and the National Treasury. How they are financed, and whether they pass before the election season heats up, will show whether the Mashujaa Day promises turn into real relief.
The event came after a week of development tours by the President across the North Rift, and against a backdrop of public worry over the cost of living, fuel prices, unemployment and preparedness for an Ebola outbreak.
Honoring the heroes
The President opened by paying tribute to the men and women who won Kenya's independence. He recalled Koitalel Arap Samoei, who was assassinated by a British colonial officer in 1905, as well as Mekatilili wa Menza, Dedan Kimathi, Field Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima, and Mzee Jomo Kenyatta with the Kapenguria Six.
He also announced that he would later launch the autobiography of the late Achieng' Oneko, titled The Price of Freedom. Mr Ruto said freedom is not only an inheritance to enjoy but a responsibility to fulfil, and that each generation must add its own contribution to nation-building.
Four new measures
The highlight of the address was the announcement of four proposals, which the President said are meant to ease burdens on ordinary Kenyans:
1. PAYE exemption: Kenyans earning Ksh 32,333 or less per month would be exempted from Pay As You Earn income tax. The proposals will be taken to Parliament starting next week.
2. Stamp duty relief: Land transactions valued at Ksh 1 million or less would be exempt from stamp duty, with progressive rates for higher-value transactions.
3. Cheaper phones: The 25 per cent import duty on mobile phones would be removed, with the President describing a phone as a gateway to the digital economy rather than a luxury.
4. Paid internships: From January 1, 2027, the national internship programme would expand to 50,000 young Kenyans receiving a monthly stipend, placed through a digital, merit-based system, with incentives for private employers.
Mr Ruto said the necessary legislative, fiscal and administrative processes would follow, with attention to sustainable financing and transparency.
A four-year report card
The President defended his record with figures that have not been independently verified in this report. His economic headline was that the value of the stock market has doubled, from Ksh 2 trillion to Ksh 4 trillion. He added that foreign direct investment rose from $1.5 billion in 2022 to $3.2 billion in 2025 and that Kenya is now Africa's seventh-largest economy. He said more than 10 million Kenyans borrow from the Hustler Fund, which has disbursed Ksh 98 billion, and that another Ksh 5 billion will be injected before year-end.
On agriculture, he said a bag of fertiliser now costs Ksh 2,000 against Ksh 7,500 in 2022, maize output has risen from 34.3 million to 71 million bags, and 8.9 million farmers have been registered. He said farmers' prices have improved in coffee, tea and dairy, with dairy farmers to receive Ksh 65 per litre from this month plus a Ksh 2 monthly bonus paid quarterly.
On health, he said beneficiaries under the Social Health Authority number 33.3 million compared with 7 million under the old NHIF, and that Ksh 107 billion has been paid to facilities since January. On education, he cited the recruitment of over 100,000 teachers, 23,000 new classrooms and growth in TVET admissions from about 300,000 to 1.3 million.
On housing, he said 303,910 homes are at various stages of development, and that on Sunday keys were handed to 2,157 families at the Pioneer Affordable Housing Estate in Eldoret. He also pointed to a string of road, rail and energy projects, including oil exports from the Lake Turkana Basin targeted to start in December, and the sale of a 25 per cent stake in Kenya Pipeline Company to private investors a day earlier.
Targets and the road to 2027
Looking ahead, the President set three-year targets of two million digital jobs, one million international work opportunities and two million jobs linked to housing and related investments, backed by a National Infrastructure Fund.
On the demonstrations that have marked his term, Mr Ruto struck a conciliatory note. Rather than casting the young Kenyans who took to the streets over taxation, the cost of living and joblessness as adversaries in a personal contest between government and the governed, he described their protests as a reminder that a mandate does not silence citizens between elections. Citizens, he said, keep the right to question government and demand better, and leaders must listen and remain answerable. The message was that such civic pressure, met with accountability, is part of how the nation moves forward.
He urged a politics of track record, vision and plan rather than what he called ethnic choreography and personality attacks, and defended the broad-based government formed two years ago.
Sports, security and the baton
Fitting the Eldoret setting, Mr Ruto paid tribute to Kenya's athletics heritage, from Wilson Kiprugut and Kipchoge Keino to the 1972 Olympic relay gold winners and today's stars such as Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet. He promised to complete the stadium's canopy in the coming months and spoke of the investments being made ahead of Kenya's co-hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations with Uganda and Tanzania, including the Raila Odinga International Stadium and Kasarani.
As Commander-in-Chief, Mr Ruto also gave the security services their flowers, saluting the Kenya Defence Forces, National Police Service, National Intelligence Service, Prisons Service and National Police Reservists for keeping the country safe, often far from their families and without public recognition. He remembered those who made the ultimate sacrifice and called the officers heroes of the nation too.
Closing with a relay-race metaphor, the President said Kenyans inherited the baton of freedom and must pass on the baton of opportunity. He ended with his rallying calls, "Usawa ni sawa. Mbele Pamoja."
Achievement or applause?
The speech invites an obvious question: where does a genuine success story end and a President blowing his own trumpet begin? Doubling the stock market's value from Ksh 2 trillion to Ksh 4 trillion is a real marker of investor confidence, and it suits an address billed as an account to the people. But a rising market is not the same as a fuller wallet, and the speech landed amid public worry over living costs, fuel prices and unemployment. The numbers are the government's own, and the line between success and self-praise will be drawn by households rather than by the podium.
The new promises will test the claim. The PAYE exemption for those earning Ksh 32,333 or less, the stamp duty waiver, the removal of the phone duty and the paid internships are proposals, and their fate rests with Parliament and the National Treasury. How they are financed, and whether they pass before the election season heats up, will show whether the Mashujaa Day promises turn into real relief.