President William Ruto has claimed that his administration has helped nearly two million Kenyans find work since he took office in 2022. He put jobs at the centre of his re-election pitch as his North Rift tour moved through his Uasin Gishu home base and into Nandi County.

The claim

Ruto spoke on Saturday, October 17, at a large rally along the Eldoret-Uganda highway in Eldoret. He listed three main sources of employment, Nation and Tuko reported. He said the Affordable Housing Programme and related construction of markets and student hostels employs about 1.1 million people, from engineers to masons and casual labourers. He said digital work programmes have engaged about 300,000 young people, and that another 680,000 Kenyans have been placed abroad through labour export schemes, including the Kazi Majuu programme.

Together, those figures add up to just under two million. "As I stand here in my home city of Eldoret, I can account for my 2022 pre-election promises," Ruto said, according to Nation.

Ruto also pointed to cheaper subsidised fertiliser, which he said fell from Sh7,000 to Sh2,000 a bag. He cited better farm-gate prices for milk, coffee and tea, and said sugarcane farmers will receive bonuses in November. He claimed the Social Health Authority now has 33 million registered members, against about eight million under the old NHIF. He said 100,000 teachers have been hired and another 20,000 will be recruited, Tuko reported.

How the numbers stack up

The figures are the President's own. As Tuko noted, he did not say how many of the positions were newly created, how many are temporary construction jobs, or how the totals were independently verified.

Official statistics count jobs differently. Figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics' Economic Survey 2026, cited by The Star in August, show the economy added about 3.27 million jobs between 2022 and 2025. Roughly 2.84 million of those, about 87 per cent, were in the informal sector. Only around 420,400 were formal, wage-paying positions. Those totals cover the whole economy and include part of 2022, before Ruto took office. They cannot be matched one-to-one with the programme figures he quoted at the rally.

The housing figure in particular deserves caution. Construction work on housing sites is often casual and tied to the life of a project, so a count of people engaged on sites at a given time is not the same as a count of lasting jobs.

The political pitch

The jobs numbers were part of a wider case for a second term. Ruto said a revised higher education funding model covering universities, TVET colleges and KMTC will take effect in January 2027, and defended the Competency-Based Curriculum, Tuko reported. He told the crowd to judge leaders on their development records rather than tribe, and accused the opposition of having no agenda or manifesto.

His ODM partners backed him on stage. ODM chairperson and Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga said the party would not betray the agreement between Ruto and the late Raila Odinga. Minority Leader Junet Mohamed said ODM would stay in the broad-based government and work for the President's re-election, according to Nation. Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Speaker Moses Wetang'ula, Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah and Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi were also at the rally.

The President moved on to Kapsabet in Nandi County on Sunday, where he commissioned the new county headquarters and attended an ACK church service, People Daily reported.

The ten-day tour covers Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo-Marakwet, West Pokot and Baringo. It ends with national Mashujaa Day celebrations at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret on Tuesday, October 20, which Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Elgeyo-Marakwet are co-hosting.

Photos: Aerial view of President Ruto's rally in Eldoret (Nation); President Ruto greets clergy in Kapsabet, Nandi County, during his North Rift tour (Citizen Digital).