President William Ruto is expected to give his state of the nation address this Thursday of November 9, 2023.
Nairobi senator Edwin Sifuna is however among legislators who won’t avail themselves for the session that will be going down at the parliament buildings in the afternoon.
Sifuna said that he would deliberately skip the event because he can’t trust the head of state to paint the actual state of the nation.
“The standing orders require that the head of state in an address to Parliament be heard in silence. Two problems. 1. Ruto cannot be trusted to paint the true picture of the State of the Nation which as you know is dire. 2. I cannot sit quietly listening to lies. For these reasons and out of respect for the institution of Parliament I shall not attend the state of the nation address.”the senator cum ODM secretary general said.
In his address, Ruto is expected to speak about the achievements that his government has realized since he took over leadership of the country.
He will also talk about the health sector and Education reforms under his administration.
The state of the nation address comes at a time when Kenyans are forced to dig deeper in their pockets for government services such as registration for IDs as well as payment of taxes.
On Wednesday, Interior CS announced that charges for replacing ID cards had been increased from kshs100 to Kshs2000.
Those who didn’t have IDs previously will also pay Kshs1000.
Kenyans have however expressed diverse opinions regarding Ruto’s address.
“State of the Nation Address! Stop saying President Ruto has done nothing! Is hiring 56,000 teachers in 8 months a joke to you? Is increasing public servants’ salaries by 7–10% a joke to you? What about digitizing 5,000 government services?” An X user said.
Another netizen wrote, “And you people thought Ruto was joking?Kaende Kaende I love it when you people cry on #StateOfTheNation,Uhuru Kenyatta warned you but hamkuskia now you want to hear #impeachment of Zakayo?”
