Ruto pushes ahead with Sh5 trillion National Infrastructure Fund amid oversight fears

Questions have emerged over the oversight and management of the Sh5 trillion National Infrastructure Fund (NIF), even as the Cabinet prepares to meet on Monday to consider its approval.

While President William Ruto has described the fund as a critical step toward transforming Kenya into a first-world economy, critics warn that concentrating billions in a single mechanism risks mismanagement and corruption.

The President says the fund will mark a shift away from heavy reliance on debt and taxes by pooling proceeds from the privatisation of selected State-owned enterprises and directing them strictly into public infrastructure.

Speaking on Sunday during a church service in Gatundu North, Kiambu County, Ruto said the Cabinet sitting would formally kick-start what he described as Kenya’s long-delayed transition from a third-world to a first-world economy.

“Tomorrow, we will have a special Cabinet sitting that will approve a Sh5 trillion National Infrastructure Fund that will help take our development projects forward. We are now officially starting the journey to transform Kenya into a First World country,” Ruto said.

He explained that the National Infrastructure Fund would be the main instrument for mobilising the Sh5 trillion required to implement both ongoing and new projects promised under his 2022 General Election manifesto.

According to the President, the funds will be channelled into upgrading and expanding critical infrastructure, including the dualling of 2,500 kilometres of highways, the tarmacking of 28,000 kilometres of roads, the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Mombasa and Lamu ports, and the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha to the Uganda border.

He said the investment drive will also focus on food security and energy generation through the construction of 50 mega dams, 200 mini-dams and 1,000 micro-dams, enabling irrigation of 2.5 million acres of land, alongside the generation of an additional 10,000 megawatts of electricity to support value addition, agro-processing and industrialisation.

“We are late in moving this country from the third world to first-world status, and eradicating poverty and hunger,” Ruto said.

The President noted that part of the funding will come from converting loss-making State corporations into commercially viable entities, with some earmarked for privatisation. Among those identified is the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), which he said is expected to raise about Sh100 billion.

“Through the National Infrastructure Fund, all privatisation proceeds will be ring-fenced and invested strictly in public infrastructure,” he said.

In his remarks, the President dismissed claims that the ambitious development agenda is driven by the 2027 General Election, insisting that his focus remains on delivery rather than politics.

“If it were about votes, you elected me in 2022, and that is enough for me to deliver. Elections will come later; it is time to work. When that time comes, people should be judged according to what they have done,” he said.

He also urged leaders to abandon divisive politics and concentrate on serving citizens, saying elections are temporary, but public service is continuous.

“Let’s work together for the sake of development. We should discourage divisive politics and focus our energies on serving the people. Time for elections will come,” Ruto said.

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The President criticised leaders who argue that Kenya’s transformation into a first-world economy is impossible, accusing them of lacking a development vision.

“You cannot expect someone who has been in government for 50 years, and has no tarmac road to his home, to believe that Kenya can move from the third world to first-world economic status?” he posed.

He also laughed off opposition claims that the government has delivered nothing, asking whether such critics “lived in Kenya.”

Ruto said the government is currently building 240,000 affordable houses, 400 modern markets, and 177,000-bed hostels for university, TVET and Kenya Medical Training College students nationwide. He added that Sh48 billion is being invested in such projects in Kiambu County alone, alongside an additional Sh4.1 billion set aside for road improvements.

For Kiambu, the President also announced that Sh22 billion has been secured to dual the Muthaiga–Kiambu–Ndumberi road to ease congestion and cut travel times, saying he would return in February 2026 to officially launch the project.

Political tensions, however, flared during the church service, pitting Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi against Thika Town MP Alice Ng’ang’a and Gatundu North MP Elijah Kururia.

The standoff began when Ng’ang’a declared her intention to vie for the Kiambu governorship in the 2027 General Election. Moments later, Kururia referred to her as the “incoming governor,” prompting an angry interruption from Governor Wamatangi.

“I am the sitting governor and the governor-to-be. If there was any doubt, now you know who the incoming governor is,” Wamatangi said, before President Ruto stepped in to calm the situation.

“We agreed as the people of Kiambu that politics will wait until 2027,” the governor added.

The strained relationship between Wamatangi and politicians allied to the President has previously played out in public, including in September during the burial of the father of National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa, where the governor was visibly sidelined.

Ichung’wa, who led leaders present at the Gatundu North event, praised the President’s development agenda in the Mt Kenya region, saying it would transform lives.

“Kenyans will elect leaders because of their development track record. No one decides for our people how to vote,” he said.

Cabinet Secretaries Alice Wahome (Lands) and William Kabogo (ICT) were also in attendance.

Even as the Cabinet prepares to deliberate on the fund, opposition to the NIF has emerged. Senior counsel Paul Muite criticised the proposal, warning that it undermines constitutional safeguards.

“National Infrastructure Fund illegally removes Constitutional Controls/safeguards and places use of those Funds in the hands of ONE individual. Expect unbridled looting and kickback. The debt burden is being casually tossed onto Kenyans,” Muite said in a post on X.

His comments followed Ruto’s insistence that the fund is designed to unlock private sector investment while reducing dependence on borrowing.

The Cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday, December 15, 2025, is also expected to finalise approval of the National Infrastructure Fund alongside the Sovereign Wealth Fund policy.