David Maraga 2027 - Reset. Restore. Rebuild.

By Hon. Justice David Maraga President William Ruto often tells Kenyans that we are on track to becoming the “Singapore of Africa.” It is an attractive comparison, but also a deeply misleading one. Singapore did not become Singapore by accident, slogans, or PR. It became Singapore through discipline, integrity, and leadership that treated public resources as sacred and corruption as an existential threat.[1]

The painful truth is this: Kenya under the current administration is moving in the opposite direction. Not slowly, not accidentally, but structurally.

How Singapore Actually Became Singapore: Singapore’s transformation was not built on wishful thinking or borrowed money, but on five hard principles that were enforced relentlessly.

First, ruthless anti-corruption discipline. In Singapore, corruption ended careers and destroyed reputations, regardless of rank. Ministers were investigated, prosecuted, and removed without hesitation. In 1986, even the sitting Minister for National Development, Teh Cheang Wan, was formally investigated by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau for alleged bribery. The investigation proceeded with the Prime Minister’s approval, and Teh died by suicide before charges could be laid, cementing the principle that no office was too high to scrutinize.

Second, fiscal restraint and long-term planning. Singapore treated debt as a tool of last resort, not a governing strategy. For decades it ran prudent budgets, accumulated national reserves, and funded development from productivity and savings rather than perpetual deficit financing, a stance repeatedly highlighted in IMF and World Bank assessments of its macroeconomic framework.[2]

Third, a disciplined and competent government. The Singaporean state was lean, professional, and performance-driven. Ministers were few, bureaucracies streamlined, and public service promotions tied to merit and outcomes, not political loyalty.

Fourth, zero tolerance for waste. Public money was regarded as sacred. Extravagance, duplication, and inefficiency were treated as forms of betrayal, not perks of office.

Fifth, internal wealth creation over labour export. Singapore invested heavily in skills, technology, and industry so that its citizens could prosper at home. Exporting labour was never confused with economic success. This was not ideology. It was discipline.

Kenya Today: The Opposite Trajectory Kenya today exhibits almost none of these defining traits.

1.Debt as a Governing Philosophy

3.hen President Ruto took office, Kenya’s public debt stood at approximately KSh 8.6 trillion.[3] By late 2025, it has breached KSh 12 trillion, according to CBK-based estimates, equivalent to roughly $93 billion.[4] That is an increase of close to 40% in under three years.

3.his explosion of borrowing has not delivered world-class healthcare, affordable education, or transformational infrastructure. Instead, it has largely funded a bloated state, inflated contracts, and serial corruption scandals.

3.ebt service alone now consumes around two-thirds of ordinary government revenue: National Treasury’s own Annual Public Debt Management Report for FY 2022/23 puts total debt service at 58.8% of revenue, FY 2023/24 up 69.1%, and FY 2024/25 even higher at 71.2%. Independent analyses confirm similar ratios of around 70%.[5]

2.A Political Class That Eats First

3.enya has developed one of the most top-heavy and expensive political systems in the world relative to its income level, with a dense lattice of elected officials, appointees, allowances, and perks. While most citizens struggle with rising costs of living, unemployment, and shrinking opportunities, the political and senior bureaucratic class enjoys world-class remuneration, travel, and benefits, a pattern repeatedly flagged in public expenditure reviews and wage-bill analyses.[6]

A bloated public wage bill, particularly at the political and senior bureaucratic level, has crowded out funding for development, healthcare, and education. Instead of reforming this structure, the current administration has chosen to tax and borrow more to sustain it.

3.Corruption Rewarded, Not Punished

3.n Singapore, corruption ended careers. In Kenya, corruption builds them.

3.ndividuals facing serious corruption allegations, active investigations, or unresolved audit queries continue to be appointed or are maintained in positions of influence and others are assisted to contest and win elections. Publicly available successive reports by the Auditor-General highlight uncompetitive procurement, unsupported expenditures, and inconsistencies running into tens or hundreds of billions of shillings at both national and county levels, with near zero high-level consequences.

Oversight institutions are captured and weakened, audit recommendations are ignored, and Parliament routinely abdicates its role. The result is systemic impunity, grand corruption and unsustainable waste. Corruption is no longer an aberration; it is increasingly budgeted, accommodated, and normalised.

4.Exporting Youth as Economic Policy

3.he current Government now actively promotes the export of its people as a development strategy. Official statements and agreements have framed the plan to send hundreds of thousands, and ultimately up to one million Kenyan workers abroad annually as an economic opportunity and a source of remittances.

Remittances do matter. They are equivalent to roughly 4% of Kenya’s GDP and have grown steadily over the last two decades.[7] But no serious country celebrates remittances as a substitute for domestic job creation. That is not development; it is defeat. It is also a betrayal of that fundamental social contract between government and citizens, when a regime trades off its citizens – their greatest source of wealth and power – to serve the interest of another nation. A nation that cannot productively absorb its most energetic and educated generation is not rising — it is hollowing out.

5.A Collapsing Economy With No Coherent Strategy

3.enya’s economic management today is characterized by three failures:

3.irst: Policy instability. Sudden tax changes, controversial finance bills, shifting fuel levies, and abrupt cuts or delays in education capitation create chronic uncertainty for households and businesses. Planned measures have repeatedly been abandoned after public protests, leaving both investors and citizens unsure what tomorrow’s rules will be.

Second: Absence of an industrial strategy. Programs like the Hustler Fund offer micro-loans but do not build enterprises, industries, or export capacity. They create serfdom by chaining a “hustler” generation to debt and dependency when they ought to be ignited as wealth creators. Housing initiatives have been launched with unclear financing, legal setbacks, and weak linkages to broader industrial policy.

Third: Neglect of productivity. Manufacturing remains under 7% of GDP[8], power costs are uncompetitive and prohibitive, VAT refunds are delayed, and both TVETs and universities are starved of meaningful investment. This is not how economies grow. What Singapore’s Leaders Understood, and President Ruto Does Not Singapore’s leaders understood that a pro-growth policy requires a clean government, that the rule of law is an economic asset, and that leadership requires personal restraint and institutional discipline.

These are precisely the values that President Ruto lacks, and precisely the values our president must have.

Kenya’s challenge today is not lack of ideas or talent. It is lack of disciplined, ethical leadership that treats public office as a trust, corruption as an existential threat, and national resources as sacred. The Choice Before Us: Singapore was built by patriots who chose discipline over indulgence, institutions over personalities, and the future over the present. Kenya is being dragged in the opposite direction by a ruling class that consumes excessively, borrows recklessly, governs without accountability and loots public resources.

We are not poor because we lack money. We are poor because we have embraced an extractive system that is designed to serve those in power before it serves citizens.

With leadership anchored in integrity, discipline, respect for the rule of law, and prudent economic management, Kenya can still choose a different future.

[1] https://www.cpib.gov.sg/who-we-are/our-heritage/?utm [2] https://sso.agc.gov.sg/SL/CIA1941-N35?utm [3] https://africauncensored.online/blog/2025/04/28/trapped-in-debt-rutos-china-visit-renews-focus-on-kenyas-borrowing-binge/ [4] https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/kenyas-public-debt-hits-dollar93-billion-as-domestic-borrowing-surges/13z445x?utm [5] https://www.treasury.go.ke/annual-debt-management-reports/ [6] https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/nasikiliza/there-is-another-way-reducing-debt-while-creating-jobs-in-kenya?utm [7] https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Kenya/remittances_percent_GDP/?utm. [8] https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Kenya/Share_of_manufacturing/?utm

Kenya Is Not on the Road to Singapore. Pretending Otherwise Is Dangerous