Tanzania answers Ruto, says claim that Kenya leads region in tarmac roads not true

Tanzania answers Ruto, says claim that Kenya leads region in tarmac roads not true
Tanzania answers Ruto, says claim that Kenya leads region in tarmac roads not true - Tanzania’s Minister for Works, Abdallah Ulega. (Photo: Facebook/ Abdallah Ulega)
Tanzania’s Minister for Works, Abdallah Ulega. (Photo: Facebook/ Abdallah Ulega)

He also claimed that Kenya is the only middle-income country in the region and that its road network exceeds the combined road infrastructure of its regional peers. Ruto made the remarks while trying to justify Kenya’s higher fuel prices compared to its neighbours.

Tanzania has dismissed remarks by President William Ruto in which he claimed Kenya has a larger network of tarmac roads than all its East African neighbours combined, terming the statements false.
Speaking during a church service over the weekend, President Ruto said Kenya has about 20,000 kilometres of tarmacked roads, with a further 6,000 kilometres under construction.
He also claimed that Kenya is the only middle-income country in the region and that its road network exceeds the combined road infrastructure of its regional peers. Ruto made the remarks while trying to justify Kenya’s higher fuel prices compared to its neighbours.

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“Kenya is a middle-income country; our neighbours are the least developed countries. There is a big difference. If you want to compare Kenya fairly with others, compare Kenya with other middle-income countries. Middle-income countries like Kenya have possibly higher prices than Kenya or the same,” Ruto said then.
“If you add the number of kilometres in Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, it is not 20,000 kilometres. So the 20,000 kilometres we have in Kenya is more than all the tarmac in all the other seven countries in EAC.”
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However, in a rejoinder on Tuesday, Tanzania’s Minister for Works, Abdallah Ulega, rubbished President Ruto’s remarks, disputing his characterisation of Kenya’s economic status and infrastructure figures.

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According to Abdallah, Kenya is not a higher-middle-income country as claimed by Ruto, but a lower-middle-income economy, similar to Tanzania.
“Tanzania is a lower-middle-income country, and in East Africa there are only two of us; us and our neighbours, the Kenyans,” he said.
Further, Ulega challenged Ruto’s figures on road infrastructure, saying Tanzania has about 16,000 kilometres of tarmac roads covering both urban and rural areas.
According to the Tanzanian minister, the combined road networks of Tanzania and its regional neighbours exceed the figures cited by Ruto.
“If you take Tanzania’s 16,000 and add it to theirs, you get over 22,000 kilometres. Therefore, the figures claiming that all of us in East Africa combined cannot reach 20,000 kilometres are not true,” he said.

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