New year message: Ruto unveils roadmap to cut poverty & unemployment

I have never looked forward to a new year the way I look forward to 2026. This conviction is born of what the nation has achieved together, the foundations laid, and the certainty that those foundations now allow Kenya to finally reach for its highest ideals.

2025 has been a year that tested the nation's resolve, demanded sacrifice, and called for unity. As President, I am proud that together, we rose to the occasion. Decisive measures taken in 2023 and 2024 were aimed at stabilizing and turning around the economy.

Looking back, 2025 was the year when those deliberate, often demanding choices began to pay off. Now, for the first time in a long while, Kenya is not guessing, drifting, or gambling. The nation has set its targets and has a clear roadmap to make 2026 a defining year in its history.

Tonight, this is more than a customary New Year's address; it is a moment that calls on all citizens to seize the opportunity, walk together, and complete a journey that has been delayed for far too long. 2026 will be a watershed year in the story of the Republic.

It will be a turning point in the march from promise to prosperity, a year that future generations will recognize as when Kenya changed course. This confidence is based on the solid foundation already laid, confronting difficulties, carving out opportunities, and laying a strong and formidable base for the future.

The story of 2025 is not just about numbers or statistics, but about the people - the hustlers, the mama mbogas, the boda boda riders, farmers, traders, entrepreneurs, and workers, whose toil, patience, and sacrifice have begun to yield tangible results. It is the story of ordinary citizens whose lives have quietly changed in very extraordinary ways.

The foundations laid have enabled millions to access quality health services under our universal healthcare programme. Currently, more than 29 million Kenyans are registered under the Social Health Authority (SHA).

Across the country, stories reflect care, relief, dignity, and support for ordinary citizens whose lives have been transformed. For instance, SHA fully covered the Ksh.168,000 cost of specialised corrective surgery and all post-operative follow-up care for Lydia, a 17-year-old dependent of a single mother, who has since recovered, regained her confidence and dignity, and is preparing to resume her education.

In Kisumu, Christine Awino Onyango, a 41-year-old widow, mother of five, and a mama mboga, faced a life-threatening diagnosis of Stage II oesophageal cancer.

As a registered SHA member contributing Ksh.7,000 annually, Christine received comprehensive treatment at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital. SHA covered medical costs exceeding Ksh.250,000, including diagnostic tests, specialized surgery, intensive care, and post-operative management, with her chemotherapy also scheduled to be fully covered.

These are not isolated stories, but reflections of millions of other Kenyans who have benefited from the outcomes of deliberate policy choices.

Farming, which was long a gamble rather than an investment, has changed, as farmers are no longer uncertain whether the harvest would even cover costs. With affordable fertiliser and certified seeds reaching millions, yields have improved significantly. Food production rose significantly.

Maize harvests are on course to reach historic highs. Tea earnings surged. Coffee prices nearly doubled. Sugar production grew as imports fell. Livestock, dairy, leather, and meat exports expanded steadily. Educational opportunity was expanded through reformed, merit-based systems.

And nearly a million Kenyans were helped to access jobs through housing, labour mobility, and the digital economy, with many more opportunities coming in 2026 and beyond.

However, even as progress is acknowledged, 2025 was not defined by success alone; it was also a challenging year that tested the nation's unity and reminded citizens of the responsibility that comes with freedom and democracy.

The events of June and July, and the regrettable loss of lives and destruction of property, left a stain on our national conscience.

While the Constitution guarantees every Kenyan the right to express themselves, assemble, and participate freely in our democracy , it also imposes duties on citizens and leaders alike to uphold the rule of law, protect life and property, and safeguard peace and stability ; rights and responsibilities are inseparable.

In a thriving democracy, debate and dissent are legitimate and necessary, but the Constitution does not license violence, destruction, or criminality. Differences must never degenerate into disorder that threatens the peace we cherish.

Leaders entrusted with leadership carry a heightened duty to unite rather than divide, to build rather than burn. Kenya is bigger than any individual, any office, or any ambition, and since this Republic belongs to all of us, we share a duty to protect it.

As announced during the State of the Nation Address, 2026 marks the moment when our journey to transform Kenya into a first-world economy begins in earnest. What matters now is execution. But to speak honestly about the future, we must begin with the truth about the present.

Today, nearly four in every ten Kenyans live below the poverty line. That is more than twenty million of our people, families working hard, yet struggling to meet basic needs.

While deliberate policy interventions have been undertaken to create employment under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, too many of our young people, especially those entering the job market, still wake up every morning without work to go to.

This is the reality we are determined to change. When a nation chooses to organise its economy around work, production, and exports, and invests deliberately in infrastructure, energy, and skills, and finances growth intelligently, not recklessly, something profound happens.

Poverty recedes, jobs expand, and dignity rises. This is not a theory; history shows that countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia made national transformation a deliberate choice, organizing their economies around work, industry, exports, and skills.

They prevailed despite hardship, with their success built on elevated ambition, relentless determination, and sustained action over time. That is the path chosen for Kenya, and that is the future we are determined to build.

The measurable national mission for 2026 is clear:

- To cut the number of Kenyans living below the poverty line by half, lifting millions into dignity and opportunity.

- To cut unemployment by half, ensuring that millions of our citizens are productive, earning, and contributing.

This will be achieved without crushing taxpayers and without saddling our children with unsustainable debt. That is why, in January 2026, the National Infrastructure Fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund will be fully established and operationalized; these are key instruments designed to underpin Kenya's transformation.

The National Infrastructure Fund will serve as the central engine for aligning financial resources with Kenya's development priorities.

Through innovative mobilization of domestic resources, strategic monetization of mature public assets, democratisation of ownership through capital markets, and the disciplined growing and deployment of national savings, the Fund will unlock large-scale private sector capital while reducing reliance on borrowing and taxation.

All proceeds from privatization will be ring-fenced and invested strictly in public infrastructure projects that generate and preserve long-term value. Every shilling invested through this Fund will crowd in multiple additional shillings from long-term investors in the private sector.

Alongside this, the Sovereign Wealth Fund will secure intergenerational equity, saving for the future, protecting the nation from external shocks, and investing strategically to grow national wealth, giving full effect to Article 201 of the Constitution.

Together, these two Funds will enhance by multiples the financing of Kenya's development agenda and accelerate our bottom-up transformation as we charge forward, full steam, to economic freedom and a first-world economy.

Through this framework, 2026 becomes the year of execution at scale. In this new year, the Talanta Sports Complex will be completed, ready to host major international sporting events, including the 2027 AFCON. The state-of-the-art Bomas International Convention Centre will also be completed, restoring it as a premier venue and positioning Kenya as the region's hub for international events.

The tarmacking of the 6,000 KMs of roads already contracted and underway across the country will be accelerated, including the Rironi Mau Summit road, which will be completed and open to traffic by mid-2027. At the same time, the construction of several new highways countrywide will commence.

In this new year, the construction of the Naivasha-Narok-Bomet-Nyamira-Kisumu-Malaba standard gauge railway will also commence, creating a modern transport and logistics corridor linking Kenya to the East and Central Africa region.

Equally, the Galana-Kulalu dam, whose contract was signed yesterday, and several others will be launched as part of the expansion of irrigation infrastructure across the country, with the ultimate objective of bringing 2.5 million acres of land under irrigation.

The construction of a modern, world-class airport at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will also begin, to anchor the nation as the aviation capital of the region and to boost trade and tourism sectors. Changing and transforming a country does not require a miracle; it requires a clear and bold vision, and a leadership equal to that vision.

Fellow citizens, a silent but deadly crisis confronting our nation today is alcohol and drug abuse. This has become a clear and present danger to Kenya's health, security, and economic future. One in every six Kenyans aged between 15 and 65, that is over 4.7 million people, is currently using at least one drug or substance of abuse, making this no longer a marginal issue, but a national emergency.

The burden falls heaviest on men and young people. One in every three Kenyan men in this age group uses drugs or alcohol. Among young adults aged 25 to 35, one in five is affected, meaning over 1.5 million young Kenyans are being pulled away from opportunity into dependency.

Alcohol remains the most widely used substance, with more than 3.2 million current users. Initiation often occurs between 16 and 20 years, and in some cases as early as seven, exposing children to lifelong harm before adulthood begins. Kenya cannot grow, compete, or remain secure when millions are trapped in addiction, and this crisis demands decisive national action.

Accordingly, going into the new year, the Government will confront alcohol and drug abuse as a national development and security emergency, backed by political will, expanded enforcement capacity, and coordinated action across the Government.

A strengthened Anti-Narcotics Unit will be established within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, with operational capacity comparable to the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit. This fully resourced unit will operate as a permanent, multi-agency formation working closely with the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and drug abuse (NACADA), the National Intelligence Service (NIS), border management agencies, county governments, and international partners.

The unit's strength will be boosted from the current 200 to 700 officers through new recruitment and redeployment, all trained and equipped for nationwide operations against high-level traffickers, financiers, and organised criminal networks.

Asset tracing, seizure, and forfeiture will become central to every narcotic and illicit alcohol investigation. All assets used in or acquired through these activities will be treated as proceeds of crime, promptly frozen, prosecuted, forfeited to the State, and redirected to rehabilitation, prevention, and treatment programmes.

Recognizing these crimes as organized criminal enterprises, the President urged the Judiciary to consider establishing specialized courts to fast-track cases, and he will consult with the Chief Justice on how the Executive can support this effort while fully respecting judicial independence.

Border security will be strengthened through enhanced capacity for the Border Patrol Unit and the National Police Service, including modern surveillance technologies to monitor movement across our borders.

Finally, to safeguard integrity, any government official, including security officers, found culpable of facilitating, protecting, or colluding with drug traffickers or illicit alcohol networks will be prosecuted and dismissed forthwith from service.

This struggle is deeply personal to the President, as a parent. No law can replace parental guidance, community values, or early intervention in the lives of our children. We must choose to be present in the lives of our children; to guide them, protect them, and intervene early, before addiction takes hold.

If we fail to act, we fail our children; if we rise to this duty, we secure not only their future, but the moral strength and destiny of our nation. And just as we demand responsibility in our homes, we must demand the same, at an even higher standard, from those entrusted with leadership in our public life.

2026 and the years beyond will usher in a period of accountability. Leadership will be judged not by promises made, but by performance delivered; not by the exuberance of youth or the longevity of service, but by results and a proven track record.

Those entrusted with the privilege of leadership will be held to account for the service they render and the outcomes they deliver to the people; the measure of leadership is impact, and that standard will apply to all.

Happy New Year 2026

May God bless you all

May God bless Kenya

I thank you.