Kenya does not lack money, laws, institutions or talented people. What it has lacked is a national government that fears the Constitution more than it fears losing power.

President William Ruto promised a bottom-up economic transformation. What millions of Kenyans have experienced instead is top-down extraction: more taxes, more debt, more expensive public services, more anxiety for businesses and too little accountability when state power is abused. The tragedy is not simply that the government has made mistakes. Every government makes mistakes. The deeper failure is that suffering has repeatedly been treated as a public-relations problem instead of a governing emergency.

The numbers make that failure difficult to decorate. The National Treasury’s Public Debt Management Office reported public debt of KSh12.32 trillion by March 2026, equal to 65.7 per cent of GDP, with KSh1.72 trillion in debt service for the 2024/25 financial year. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights documented 60 deaths during the June-July 2024 anti-Finance Bill demonstrations. Between December 2024 and December 2025, the Commission received 661 complaints involving violations of freedom and security of the person and recorded continuing allegations of abductions, arbitrary detention and torture.

The economy has not delivered the transformation that was promised. KNBS reported that real GDP growth eased to 4.6 per cent in 2025. In 2024, the government celebrated 782,300 new jobs, yet 703,700 of them – about nine out of every ten – came from the informal sector. Informal work is not shameful; it keeps Kenya alive. But when almost all new opportunities lack predictable wages, insurance, pensions and job security, it is dishonest to call the result a jobs revolution.

Healthcare reform has also become a warning about the difference between registration and treatment. SHA requires salaried households to contribute 2.75 per cent of gross pay, subject to a minimum monthly contribution of KSh300. Yet a card, a deduction or a registration message is meaningless if a patient reaches a hospital and treatment is delayed, coverage is unclear or the facility has not been paid. SHA’s own facility payment report for July 2025 to April 2026 shows a broad benefit structure, but also reports that the ten highest-paid counties accounted for 61.69 per cent of payments. Universal healthcare cannot be universal only on a dashboard.

This is why the debate about an Edwin Sifuna-led government in 2027 must be larger than personalities, slogans or political revenge. Kenya needs a government organised around a simple proposition: the Constitution is not an inconvenience placed in the President’s way. It is the President’s job description.

The programme below is ambitious. Some measures can be delivered by an executive circular in 30 days. Others require legislation, budget reallocation, independent institutions or multi-year construction. Not every promise is cheap, and none should be sold as magic. But all are achievable when they are sequenced, costed, subjected to public participation and protected from corruption.

That is precisely what should trouble President Ruto. The comparison exposes an uncomfortable truth: many of Kenya’s crises survive not because solutions are unknown, but because the current political order has chosen different priorities.

Read Also: The Kenya Youth Are Demanding Edwin Sifuna for President

A Constitution-first government

1. Protect every Kenyan life

The first duty of an Edwin Sifuna government would be to restore the value of Kenyan life. No election, protest, police operation or political disagreement should end with a family collecting a body from a mortuary and then spending years begging the state for answers. The right to life in Article 26 of the Constitution must become an operational command to every police station, ministry and security agency.

A Sifuna administration would require independent investigation of every suspicious death involving a state officer within 90 days. Police commanders would carry responsibility for unlawful orders issued under their authority. Body cameras, station custody registers, ballistic tracking, independent post-mortems and rapid preservation of CCTV and telephone evidence would become standard safeguards, not favours offered after public outrage.

Why it is achievable: Kenya does not need a new Constitution to protect life. It already has IPOA, the ODPP, the Internal Affairs Unit, the Witness Protection Agency, the Judiciary and KNCHR. The immediate task is to fund them, protect their independence, impose deadlines, and end political interference. This is primarily a question of command and accountability, not invention.

2. Make the Constitution the government’s daily operating manual

The next government must stop treating constitutional compliance as something to be discussed only after a court strikes down a policy. Within its first 100 days, every ministry, state department and agency should undergo a constitutional compliance review covering appointments, public participation, procurement, use of force, data protection, taxation and respect for devolved functions.

Every Cabinet memorandum should include a signed constitutional and human-rights assessment. Every executive order should be published. Every public officer should understand that loyalty to the President can never replace loyalty to the Republic.

Why it is achievable: The Attorney-General, Kenya Law Reform Commission, Commission on Administrative Justice and existing legal units across government already possess the mandate and professional capacity. A constitutional compliance process requires a presidential directive, common reporting templates, and public disclosure. It is cheaper than defending unlawful decisions in court and paying damages after citizens’ rights have been violated.

3. Restore the rule of law and obedience to court orders

Court orders must not become suggestions that the Executive obeys only when politically convenient. A government that ignores judges teaches every public officer, businessperson and citizen that power matters more than law. That is how constitutional states decay.

A Sifuna government would establish a public court-order compliance register. Ministries and agencies would be required to acknowledge an order within 24 hours, identify the responsible accounting officer and report the action taken. An officer who deliberately disobeys an order would face personal liability, disciplinary proceedings and removal where the law permits.

Why it is achievable: No new institution is required. The Office of the Attorney-General already represents the state, while accounting officers already have identifiable responsibilities. A digital register and clear consequences can be introduced through administrative rules and, where necessary, a short amendment to strengthen personal accountability.

4. Enforce the Public Finance Management Act without fear or favour

Kenya’s Public Finance Management Act already demands effective management, transparency and accountability. The problem is not the absence of rules. It is the political habit of announcing projects, shifting budgets, accumulating pending bills and concealing procurement details while expecting the public to accept slogans as financial statements.

Every ministry and state agency should publish quarterly reports showing its approved budget, money released, contracts awarded, beneficial owners, amounts paid, project completion and pending bills. The information must be written so that a citizen can understand it without hiring an accountant.

Why it is achievable: The National Treasury already produces quarterly economic and budget reports, while the Controller of Budget publishes implementation reviews. IFMIS, e-procurement and the Public Procurement Information Portal already exist. Reform means connecting these systems, publishing usable information and punishing accounting officers who submit false or incomplete records.

Read Also: 25 Reasons Supporters See Edwin Sifuna as a Serious Contender for Kenya’s Sixth Presidency

5. Audit the public debt before paying anything disputed or unlawful

With public debt reported at KSh12.32 trillion by March 2026, Kenya cannot continue asking citizens to service obligations whose underlying contracts, project values and beneficiaries are not fully visible. Debt is not automatically illegitimate, and a responsible government must avoid reckless default. But no disputed, inflated, illegally contracted or unverifiable obligation should be honoured merely because someone placed it on a government schedule.

Within 180 days, an independent debt audit should publish every lender, currency, interest rate, maturity date, contractor, project and sovereign guarantee. Lawful debt service would continue to protect Kenya’s credit standing, while suspicious obligations would be subjected to forensic review, renegotiation, recovery proceedings or prosecution.

Why it is achievable: The Public Debt Management Office, Central Bank, National Treasury, Auditor-General and Parliament already hold most of the records. The reform requires consolidation, independent verification and disclosure. It is an audit of existing obligations, not a voyage into the unknown.

An economy that produces instead of punishing

6. Replace annual tax shocks with a five-year tax framework

Kenyan families and businesses should not have to wait for every Finance Bill wondering which new levy will destroy their budget. Parliament must still approve an annual budget, but the country can adopt a binding five-year tax policy that limits major changes to clearly defined emergencies and subjects them to genuine public participation.

The framework would publish expected rates, reliefs, investment incentives and review dates. It would also require a public statement showing how every proposed tax affects household income, jobs, inflation and small businesses.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already prepares medium-term expenditure and budget frameworks. Extending the same discipline to tax policy is an administrative and legislative choice. Predictability does not require abandoning annual budgeting; it requires ending annual ambushes.

7. Cut industrial electricity costs by 50 per cent over three years

Manufacturing cannot thrive when electricity is treated mainly as a source of levies and monopoly revenue. A Sifuna government should target a 50 per cent reduction in the effective cost of power for qualifying manufacturers over three years, tied to job creation, production and local value addition.

The reduction would come from reviewing expensive power-purchase agreements, expanding direct renewable generation, lowering system losses, removing avoidable taxes and levies, strengthening transmission and offering deeper off-peak tariffs. Firms receiving the benefit would sign performance agreements showing the jobs and production created.

Why it is achievable: Kenya Power and EPRA already administer specialised and time-of-use tariffs. Kenya Power’s e-mobility tariff, for example, charges KSh8 per unit off-peak and KSh16 at peak. The machinery for differentiated pricing therefore exists. The 50 per cent target is ambitious, but it can be reached through several reforms rather than one unsustainable subsidy.

8. Give new and expanding manufacturers a three-year tax holiday

Kenya should reward businesses that build factories, process local inputs and employ Kenyans. A three-year tax holiday should be available to new manufacturers and existing firms making qualifying expansions, provided they meet published targets on capital investment, employment, environmental compliance, local sourcing and worker protection.

The incentive must not become a loophole through which an old company changes its name and pretends to be new. Benefits would be earned annually after verification, not handed out permanently in secret agreements.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already offers incentives through export-processing and special economic zones. The reform would standardise, digitise and tie them to results. It is easier and more transparent to reward verified production than to negotiate private tax favours with politically connected firms.

9. Reduce the tax burden on imported vehicles by at least 45 per cent

A reliable vehicle is a tool of work for families, traders, farmers, professionals and small businesses. Yet vehicle imports carry layers of import duty, excise duty, VAT and other levies calculated on compounded values. KRA confirmed that the import-duty rate used in the vehicle valuation framework increased from 25 per cent in 2019 to 35 per cent in 2025, while excise on some vehicles also rose to 35 per cent.

A Sifuna government should reduce the cumulative tax burden by at least 45 per cent, prioritising smaller, safer, fuel-efficient and low-emission vehicles. Roadworthiness and environmental standards would remain strict.

Why it is achievable: These taxes are created by legislation and tariff schedules. They can be reduced in phases while protecting revenue through higher compliance, greater import volumes and lower incentives for evasion. The objective is not to flood Kenya with unsafe cars; it is to stop treating mobility as a punishment.

10. Expand the Credit Guarantee Scheme to KSh250 billion

SMEs are praised in speeches and abandoned at the bank counter. The National Treasury acknowledges that MSMEs employ about 15 million people, contribute roughly 34 per cent of GDP and generate the great majority of new jobs. Yet many viable businesses cannot access affordable credit because they lack collateral or a long formal credit history.

Kenya already has a Credit Guarantee Scheme working with seven commercial banks and offering qualifying facilities of up to KSh5 million. A Sifuna government would scale guarantee capacity to KSh250 billion over five years, broaden participating lenders, price loans transparently and reserve meaningful windows for manufacturing, agriculture, women, youth and PWD-owned businesses.

Why it is achievable: The legal and operational platform already exists. KSh250 billion should be structured as risk-sharing guarantee capacity, not a KSh250 billion cash giveaway. Government capital can crowd in several times its value in bank lending, while audited consolidation of duplicative enterprise funds can provide part of the seed capital.

11. Complete corruption investigations in 90 days and trials within 12 months

Corruption cases should not become political theatre in which suspects are arrested dramatically, released quietly and allowed to wait for witnesses to disappear. Investigations and charging decisions should have a 90-day target, while dedicated anti-corruption courts should aim to conclude trials within 12 months without sacrificing the constitutional right to a fair hearing.

Investigators, prosecutors and judges must receive the financial analysts, digital-forensics specialists and protected witnesses required for complex cases. Recovered assets should be published in a national register showing their final use.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already has EACC, the ODPP, the Assets Recovery Agency, Financial Reporting Centre and specialised court divisions. The country does not need another anti-corruption launch. It needs case management, protected budgets, evidence-sharing and consequences for deliberate delay.

12. Build or upgrade one Level Six referral hospital in every county

No Kenyan should travel hundreds of kilometres to Nairobi for specialised treatment that could be organised closer to home. Over five years, each county should have one hospital upgraded to national referral capability, connected to a network of 47 centres of excellence. Different facilities would lead in cancer, renal care, heart disease, trauma, mental health, infectious disease, maternal medicine, rehabilitation or research.

This does not mean constructing 47 expensive hospitals from empty fields. Most counties already have referral hospitals, land, staff and basic buildings. The programme would upgrade theatres, laboratories, imaging, specialist units, blood services, oxygen, digital records and training partnerships.

Why it is achievable: A phased national-county programme can concentrate resources on one facility per county, use standard designs and procure high-cost equipment centrally. Telemedicine and rotating specialist teams would spread expertise while local training pipelines are built. It is demanding, but far more practical than starting 47 unrelated projects.

13. Reform competency-based education around the child, teacher and parent

Competency-based education should prepare children to think, create and solve problems. It should not turn parents into unpaid teachers, schools into procurement centres or learners into experimental subjects. Within 100 days, the curriculum should undergo an independent review involving teachers, parents, employers, universities, disability advocates and learners.

The reform would simplify assessment, fund materials, reduce hidden costs, strengthen teacher training and move toward a maximum teacher-to-learner ratio of 1:40. Remote and hardship schools would receive stronger staffing incentives.

Why it is achievable: Kenya is already implementing the curriculum and has registered hundreds of thousands of trained teachers. Reform does not require burning the system down. It requires changing overloaded requirements, financing what government mandates and listening to the people who use the curriculum every day.

14. Conduct lawful lifestyle audits across the political class

Accountability must not become collective punishment against members of selected parties. Freezing every account belonging to Kenya Kwanza or ODM politicians would be unconstitutional and would make a Sifuna government resemble the abuse it seeks to end. The lawful alternative is stronger: independent lifestyle audits for all senior elected leaders, state officers and senior civil servants regardless of party, tribe or friendship with the President.

Where investigators identify unexplained wealth, they should obtain preservation orders, trace beneficial ownership, recover assets and prosecute on evidence. Officials who explain their wealth through verified lawful income have nothing to fear.

Why it is achievable: Public officers already file wealth declarations, while KRA, EACC, the Financial Reporting Centre, company registries and land registries hold relevant records. Connecting the records under judicial oversight can turn paper declarations into real accountability.

15. Give comprehensive tax relief to PWDs and primary caregivers

Disability places enormous costs on families: therapy, medicine, transport, assistive devices, specialised education and, often, the loss of a caregiver’s earning time. Kenya’s Persons with Disabilities Act 2025 permits a person with a disability who earns income to apply for income-tax exemption. The next reform must recognise the caregiver carrying the same economic burden.

Primary caregivers of children or dependants with qualifying disabilities should receive income-tax relief. Disability-related medication, therapy, assistive devices, communication technology and specialised learning materials should be zero-rated for VAT and import duty.

Why it is achievable: The exemption framework already exists through KRA and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities. Parliament can extend it through targeted amendments and clear regulations. The cost to revenue would be modest compared with the financial and emotional relief delivered to affected households.

Justice without vengeance

16. Prosecute state officers who abuse public power

The badge, uniform or government title must never become a licence to kill, torture, steal or disobey the law. Every civil servant and state officer suspected of an offence committed in the execution of public duty must face independent investigation. Officers responsible for unlawful killings, torture, abductions or fabricated charges from June 2024 onwards should face the maximum lawful penalties and permanent disqualification from public service upon conviction.

Justice must remain constitutional. Executions or punishment without trial would reproduce the same lawlessness Kenyans are rejecting. A reform government must be harder on crime and more faithful to due process at the same time.

Why it is achievable: Murder, assault, torture, unlawful detention and destruction of evidence are already offences. IPOA, ODPP and the courts already possess jurisdiction. What has been missing is timely evidence preservation, witness protection, prosecutorial independence and the political will to allow investigations to reach senior commanders.

17. Compensate victims of unlawful police action

Compensation should not depend on whether a poor family can finance a ten-year court battle. A national reparations and compensation tribunal should be created within the first 100 days to determine verified claims arising from unlawful killings, injuries, torture, disappearance, detention and property destruction by state agencies.

The tribunal would use court findings, IPOA investigations, KNCHR records, medical reports and other verified evidence. Claims should be concluded within 12 months, with urgent interim support for families that lost a breadwinner or face permanent disability.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already pays damages after successful constitutional cases. A tribunal would standardise and accelerate the process while reducing legal costs. Funding can begin through a dedicated appropriation and recoveries from officers found personally liable for deliberate abuse.

Kenyan jobs from Kenyan money

18. Put Kenyan firms at the centre of infrastructure delivery

Public infrastructure should build two assets at once: the road, hospital, school or railway being constructed, and the Kenyan companies and workers capable of building the next one. Major projects should therefore target at least 70 per cent local content, use Kenyan prime contractors wherever capacity exists and require foreign technology partners to transfer skills rather than permanently control delivery.

At least 30 per cent of qualifying procurement must remain reserved for youth, women, persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups, as contemplated by the existing AGPO framework.

Why it is achievable: Kenya’s procurement law already recognises citizen contractors, local contractors and the 30 per cent reservation. The reform would strengthen enforcement, break large tenders into practicable lots, publish beneficial owners and require measurable skills transfer. The policy builds on law already in force.

19. Hold government events in public institutions

A government seeking sacrifice from citizens cannot continue behaving as though public business must be conducted in luxury hotels. Meetings, retreats, workshops and conferences should be held in government training centres, universities, public conference facilities or state-owned hotels whenever suitable space exists.

Cabinet Secretaries and accounting officers would have to justify exceptions in writing. The goal should be an 80 per cent reduction in avoidable conference and hospitality spending within the first financial year.

Why it is achievable: This reform can begin through a Treasury circular within 30 days. Government owns conference facilities across the country. A central booking portal would show availability, cost and utilisation. Few proposals in the agenda are simpler.

20. Remove punitive taxes from the gig economy

Freelancers, online workers, content creators, drivers, delivery workers, digital traders and platform-based professionals are building income without waiting for government employment. Tax policy should help them formalise and grow, not subject the same small payment to overlapping withholding, turnover and platform charges.

A Sifuna government should remove sector-specific punitive levies, provide a three-year tax holiday for qualifying new digital businesses and introduce one simple post-holiday regime with a protected income threshold. Platforms would provide workers with transparent annual income statements and portable social-protection options.

Why it is achievable: KRA already administers simplified taxes and digital filing. Parliament can consolidate obligations into a single regime. A simpler system can improve compliance and ultimately raise more sustainable revenue than chasing young workers through confusing rules.

21. Secure majority public benefit from strategic minerals

Kenya’s minerals must not leave behind poisoned land, displaced communities and private fortunes while the public receives ceremonial royalty cheques. Strategic minerals should be developed through contracts that guarantee majority Kenyan public benefit, local processing, county and community royalties, environmental restoration and employment.

For new strategic projects, the state should negotiate at least a 51 per cent combined public and Kenyan ownership interest where commercially and constitutionally appropriate. Existing lawful investments must be respected and altered only through due process, negotiation and compensation where required.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already licenses mining under the Mining Act, and the Ministry of Mining already identifies strategic minerals and promotes value addition. The government can change future licensing terms, create a professionally governed national minerals corporation and require local processing without unlawful confiscation.

22. Make TSC recruitment fair, transparent and nationally representative

Teachers should be appointed and promoted on merit, need and fairness, not tribe, political patronage or access to influential offices. TSC should publish annual county, gender, disability and ethnic diversity data covering recruitment, promotions, transfers and senior appointments.

Hardship areas should receive stronger allowances, housing support and minimum-service incentives so that children in remote counties are not left with classrooms but no teachers.

Why it is achievable: Section 7 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act already states that no public establishment should have more than one third of its staff from the same ethnic community. TSC already holds the staffing data. Reform requires publishing it, enforcing the law and funding rational deployment.

23. Make police recruitment and promotions nationally representative

A national police service must look and feel national. Recruitment, specialised training, promotions and senior commands should reflect Kenya’s diversity while preserving professional standards. Political loyalty and ethnic networks must never determine who commands armed institutions.

The National Police Service Commission should publish aggregated annual diversity reports and clear promotion criteria. Independent observers should monitor recruitment, and complaints should be resolved before final lists are confirmed.

Why it is achievable: The constitutional principles of diversity, merit and equal opportunity already bind public service. Recruitment is periodic and centrally managed, making transparency possible without creating new bureaucracy. What is required is independent oversight and publication of the data.

24. Make military recruitment and appointments fair across Kenya

The Kenya Defence Forces must remain professional, disciplined and insulated from party politics. Recruitment and career progression should reflect national diversity, gender inclusion and equal opportunity, without compromising security standards or revealing sensitive operational information.

Aggregated diversity reports can show regional representation, recruitment outcomes and promotion patterns while protecting individual deployments and classified structures.

Why it is achievable: The military already conducts national recruitment and maintains detailed personnel records. Fairness can be audited internally and reported in aggregate to Parliament. This is an improvement in governance, not interference with command.

Infrastructure that changes the national economy

25. Build a phased Mombasa-Malaba economic expressway

The Mombasa-Malaba corridor carries Kenya’s economic bloodstream: port cargo, food, fuel, exports, commuters and regional trade. It deserves a modern, controlled-access road planned as one national economic system rather than a collection of disconnected contracts.

The honest design is not 16 lanes from one border to the other regardless of traffic. It is up to 16 lanes at the busiest metropolitan, port and logistics bottlenecks, six to eight lanes on high-demand sections and at least four lanes elsewhere, supported by bypasses, service roads, truck stops, emergency response and intelligent traffic management.

Why it is achievable: KeNHA already manages the A8 Mombasa-Malaba corridor and lists Mombasa-Nairobi and Malaba-Eldoret-Nakuru-Nairobi-Mombasa projects. A five-year government can complete feasibility work, protect the right of way, deliver priority sections and finance later phases through transparent infrastructure bonds, carefully structured partnerships and freight-user revenues. The corridor is large, but it is not imaginary.

26. Develop high-speed passenger and modern freight rail to Malaba

Kenya’s railway should connect the port, industrial centres, farms, western Kenya and regional markets. The next government should complete the standard-gauge link from Naivasha through Kisumu to Malaba, electrify the network progressively and develop dedicated high-speed passenger segments capable of 200 to 250 kilometres per hour where engineering and demand justify them.

Freight reliability is just as important as passenger speed. Ports, dry ports, industrial parks and border systems should operate on one digital logistics platform.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already has the Mombasa-Naivasha SGR, and Kenya Railways reported in 2026 that construction of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba extension had commenced. A Sifuna government would inherit a corridor, institutions and technical experience. Its job would be to complete, integrate, electrify and govern the system transparently.

27. Make public education genuinely free from ECDE to university

Free education is a lie when parents must repeatedly pay for teachers, desks, examinations, meals, building projects, digital devices and compulsory activities. A Sifuna government should progressively eliminate tuition and mandatory levies from public ECDE, primary, secondary, technical and university education.

The first priority would be full and timely capitation, textbooks, teacher recruitment, disability support and school meals in vulnerable areas. University tuition support should be separated from living-cost assistance so public money goes first to learning, with additional grants and loans determined transparently by need.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already funds free primary and day-secondary education, operates public universities, provides HELB financing and distributes bursaries through multiple agencies. Consolidating fragmented bursaries, protecting capitation and reducing procurement waste can finance a phased expansion. The institutions already exist; the reform is to fund them honestly.

28. Stop exporting raw produce and importing finished unemployment

When Kenya exports raw coffee, tea, hides, oilseeds, minerals or nuts and later imports finished goods, it exports the factory jobs, packaging businesses, technology and taxes that should remain at home. The aim should be to reduce raw agricultural exports by at least 80 per cent over five years wherever viable domestic processing capacity exists.

An immediate blanket ban could punish farmers by destroying markets. Restrictions must therefore be phased, product-specific and accompanied by guaranteed market access, warehouse systems, affordable power, processing finance and competitive farm-gate prices.

Why it is achievable: Export permits, levies, procurement policy, tax incentives and industrial finance already provide the tools. Government can publish a product-by-product processing schedule and prohibit raw exports only when verified domestic capacity can buy the produce at a fair price.

29. Protect goods Kenya can competitively produce

Kenya should not use scarce foreign exchange to import products that local firms can supply in sufficient quantity, quality and price. Government should maintain a transparent list of goods eligible for temporary safeguards, stronger standards enforcement or local procurement preference.

At least 70 per cent of suitable government goods should be sourced locally. Protection must be reviewed regularly so it does not create lazy monopolies that overcharge consumers.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already uses the East African Community tariff framework, standards enforcement and public-procurement preferences. The reform is to apply them strategically, transparently and consistently, while respecting regional and international obligations. It is smart industrial policy, not isolation.

30. Establish 47 cottage-industry and processing zones

Every county should have at least one properly serviced cottage-industry and processing zone providing affordable workspace, reliable electricity, water, storage, shared machinery, internet, testing laboratories, packaging support, business registration and access to credit.

The zones should be built around local strengths: dairy, coffee, leather, textiles, fish, honey, fruit, cereals, metalwork, furniture, construction materials or digital services. A target of at least 5,000 direct and indirect jobs per county would create a pathway toward 235,000 opportunities nationally.

Why it is achievable: Kenya already has the Special Economic Zones Authority, Export Processing Zones Authority, Micro and Small Enterprises Authority and county industrial land. The model can reuse public land and standard common-user facilities instead of building extravagant parks. One practical zone per county over five years is a manageable national programme.

Healthcare that treats patients, not registration numbers

31. Reform SHA into a patient-first universal health system

SHA should not be abolished merely to create another acronym, nor defended merely because millions have registered. It should be rebuilt around treatment. The first 100 days should produce a forensic audit of contracts, technology, claims, provider debts, inherited NHIF obligations and the methods used to identify households that require public support.

Emergency treatment must begin immediately regardless of contribution status, with authorisation processed within two hours. Verified hospital claims should be paid within 30 days and attract interest after 45 days without a lawful dispute. Benefits, exclusions and tariffs must be published in plain language. An independent health ombudsman should resolve emergency complaints within 24 hours and ordinary appeals within seven working days. The digital platform should target 99.9 per cent availability and maintain an offline emergency process.

Low-income and vulnerable households should receive fully funded coverage. A worker who loses a job should retain essential benefits for at least 12 months while their status is reviewed. Outpatient care, maternity, surgery, cancer, dialysis, ICU, mental health, rehabilitation, diagnostics and chronic care should have clear, nationally consistent rules.

Why it is achievable: SHA already administers the Social Health Insurance Fund, Primary Healthcare Fund and Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund. It already has a digital platform, accredited providers and claims data. Reform therefore means auditing, correcting, funding and enforcing service standards. Kenya is not starting from zero.

Why President Ruto should be uncomfortable

This agenda is not powerful because every line is radical. It is powerful because much of it is embarrassingly practical. Respect court orders. Publish contracts. Audit debt. Pay hospitals. Lower the cost of production. Help banks lend to businesses. Employ teachers fairly. Prosecute officers who kill. Compensate victims. Process Kenyan produce before exporting it. Use government facilities for government meetings. None of these ideas requires divine revelation.

President Ruto should be angered by this comparison because it removes the protection of complexity. His administration has often behaved as though Kenyans must accept pain because government is difficult. Yet the same government has demonstrated extraordinary speed when creating taxes, borrowing money, deploying police, defending controversial decisions and mobilising political support. Capacity suddenly appears when power is at stake.

An Edwin Sifuna-led government would have to prove that the state can move with the same urgency when a child needs a teacher, a patient needs treatment, a business needs affordable electricity, a family needs justice or a farmer needs a processing market.

The central promise cannot be that Sifuna is a different personality. Kenya has been disappointed by personalities before. The promise must be that power will be organised differently: limited by the Constitution, measured through public targets, audited through independent institutions and judged by the dignity of ordinary life.

This is why the 2027 election must not be reduced to replacing one occupant of State House with another. It should be a constitutional reset. It should end government by intimidation, tax ambush and public relations. It should begin government by law, production, fairness and measurable service.

Kenya has enough capable people to build this future. It has laws strong enough to restrain power, entrepreneurs bold enough to create jobs, professionals able to repair institutions and young people unwilling to inherit fear. What it needs is leadership prepared to choose them over cartels, vanity and political comfort.

The failure of the Ruto presidency has already drafted the indictment. The task of a Sifuna government would be to write the remedy – and then deliver it.

Read Also: Dear Edwin Sifuna, may power never make you forget who you were before it found you: for you are our hope for a better Kenya