Ruto halts the purchase of new motor vehicles for one year.

President William Ruto has announced a one-year suspension on the state purchase of new motor vehicles.

In a Friday address to the nation, the President specified that security agencies are exempt from this directive.

Ruto stated that a new policy on transport for public officers will be developed during this period.

“The purchase of new motor vehicles by the government is suspended for 12 months, except for security agencies. A new policy on transport for public officers will be developed within this period,” Ruto said.

Additionally, the President has suspended all non-essential travel by state and public officers.

He explained that these measures aim to improve the quality, efficiency, and transparency in serving Kenyans, ensuring they receive maximum value for their resources from a public sector that prioritizes their welfare.

“I believe these changes will set our country on a trajectory towards economic take-off, enabling us to achieve the strategic objectives of the bottom-up economic transformation agenda and deliver our commitments to radically enhance opportunities for Kenyans and transform our country,” he said.

During his Friday address, the President announced several measures to implement and enhance austerity measures.

He stated that the government seeks to align expenditures with the budgetary implications of the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024. The President mentioned that the government has proposed a budget cut of Sh177 billion to the National Assembly and plans to borrow the difference.

“The additional borrowing will increase our fiscal deficit from 3.3 percent to 4.6 percent and will be used to protect funding of critical government services,” he said.

Ruto highlighted that these services include hiring Junior Secondary School teachers and medical interns, funding the milk stabilization program for dairy farmers, reviving the stalled roads program, and retaining the fertilizer subsidy program.

Other priorities are settling debts owed to farmers in the coffee subsector, capitalizing the Coffee Cherry Fund, enabling public sector-owned sugar mills to pay outstanding debts to sugarcane farmers, providing additional funding for the higher education new funding model, and settling arrears owed to counties.

“In keeping with the enhanced austerity measures we have committed to implement, we will align government expenditures with the budgetary implications of the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024,” he said.