President William Ruto will today deliver his first-ever State of the Nation address since taking over power in September last year. The President will address a joint Parliamentary sitting of both the National Assembly and the Senate on Thursday afternoon November 9,2023.
Speakers from both Houses, the National assembly speaker Mr. Moses Wetangula and the Senate speaker Mr. Amason Kingi had called on all members to avail themselves at the Parliament buildings on the said dates at 2;30 pm.
The address will come 14 months after Ruto became Kenya’s fifth President.
The last State of the Nation address was given by former President Uhuru Kenyatta on November 30, 2021.
This was months before the General Election, in which Ruto emerged winner of the presidential race and was sworn into office on September 13, 2022.
Article 132 of the Constitution states that; Once every year, a report, in an address to the nation, on all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realization of the national values.
The address comes at a time when there are cries by Kenyans over the skyrocketing cost of living since the Kenya Kwanza administration took over.
The government had already sent a clear message about how it will deal with the cost of living.
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“My government will lower the cost of living,” President Ruto said on September 13, 2023, after being sworn in. A survey conducted in late July by Tifa research firm showed that 79 per cent of those polled thought that the ever-rising cost of living was driving the country in the wrong direction. The address also comes amid growing worries that the ongoing rainfall is exceeding the predicted forecast, with many regions, especially the northeastern parts of the country bearing the brunt of sustained downpours.
Kenyans are expecting that the President will address the high cost of living and perhaps give hope on how prices including basic commodities, and fuel will be reduced Kenyans across the country want the President to address the pressing issue facing our country including the government’s strategy to lower the high cost of living, and the thorny issue of insecurity.