“We are here to honour a life, celebrate a legacy, and renew our commitment to the ideals that keep that legacy alive,” -Ruto
BONDO, 7th Oct 2026 – President William Ruto has said that his four-year-old administration is already delivering the Canaan Dream in line with the wishes and aspirations of the late former premier Raila Odinga – of Kenya becoming a first-class global economy for the betterment of all.
Through Raila’s visionary ideals, the Head of State enumerated several key multi-billion transformative projects his administration has embarked on across various sectors, aimed at building a country that is just, equitable and fair to all.
Speaking when he led the nation in marking the first anniversary of Raila’s demise and the official handover of his mausoleum, Dr Ruto said the gathering was more than handing over a mausoleum.
“We are here to honour a life, celebrate a legacy, and renew our commitment to the ideals that keep that legacy alive,” he said during the event held at Kang’o ka Jaramogi in Sakwa, Bondo, Siaya County.
Ruto recalled how Raila often spoke of giving millions hope of Canaan: a country where work earns a decent living, justice protects every citizen, and every community belongs.
“Canaan is not a place we wait for. It is a nation we build and we have not arrived. But, look how far we have come. We are building Canaan in our classrooms and we have transitioned to Competency-Based Education,” he stated, while adding that in four years, they have hired more than 100,000 teachers, the most in the country’s history.
“We will recruit 20,000 more by December this year. We have built over 23,000 classrooms and 1,600 laboratories. We have reformed university funding so that it follows student need and merit, and we have rescued our public universities from collapse,” Ruto explained.
This move, he emphasized, is intended to empower a generation for the economy of the future.
Canaan building, he reiterated, has also been extended to agricultural farms aimed at achieving a stable national food basket. This has seen nearly nine million farmers digitally registered.
“They receive fertiliser and seed directly, without middlemen. A bag of fertiliser has fallen from about Sh7,500 in 2022 to Sh2,000. Seed maize now costs half what it did – from Sh300 to Sh150. We have broken the grip of the cartels and profiteers who grew rich on the sweat of our farmers.”
By upholding Raila’s demands, the sugar belt has also received a major boost to address perennial challenges facing sugar farmers, including putting to an end the debts, inefficiencies and vested interests that had crippled the industry.
“In our engagements, he consistently pushed for reforms that would put the farmer first and restore sugar as a source of prosperity for Western Kenya,” Ruto remarked.
President Ruto paid tribute to the late opposition leader, whom he said was known by many names including Aluo, Owadgi Akinyi, Nyundo, Tinga, Enigma, Agwambo, Jakom, Rao and Baba – noting that his death on 15th October 2025 in India left the nation at a standstill.
He said the choice of Kang’o ka Jaramogi as the final resting place was symbolic, with father and son – Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Raila Amolo Odinga – representing two generations of struggle united by one mission: a prosperous, equitable and united Kenya.
Ruto explained the symbolism of the new mausoleum, which is shaped as a pentagon – five sides representing Abich in Luo, the number of unity. He linked it to the 2007 ODM Pentagon, where leaders from across the country united behind a common vision, noting that it stands beside Jaramogi’s six-sided mausoleum in harmony.
The President argued that Raila’s true legacy cannot be contained in stone, saying it must live through equitable transformation. He said he took up Raila’s challenge at the Mid-Term Review last year that government policies must be inclusive regardless of voting patterns or region.
On infrastructure, Ruto said his government is opening up neglected regions through the dualling of the Rironi-Mau Summit highway, extension of the Standard Gauge Railway from Naivasha to Kisumu and Malaba with a station at Yala, full financing of the Isiolo-Mandera highway, and the planned 500km Lake Victoria Ring Road.
On housing, he said Raila’s slum upgrading dream in Kibra, which he represented for two decades, has been scaled nationally – with 17,164 affordable homes rising in Kibra alone, 4,446 units at Kibra Soweto B at 87% completion, and 303,910 homes at various stages countrywide.
He highlighted social protection programmes as part of Raila’s pro-poor legacy: Inua Jamii disbursing Sh3.5 billion monthly to 1.7 million elderly and persons with disabilities, the Social Health Authority (SHA) growing coverage from 8 million to 33.1 million registered Kenyans, with Siaya at 542,609 registrations.
He cited the Hustler Fund with Sh93 billion borrowed without collateral, and the Nyota programme supporting 134,000 youth to start businesses, saying credit is now within reach of every Kenyan.
Defending devolution, a cause Raila championed, Ruto said county allocations have risen from Sh370 billion in 2022 to a record Sh428 billion, well above the 15% constitutional minimum, but warned that devolution must not become a centre of opulence and must deliver services.
On the economy, Ruto said foreign direct investment has more than doubled from $1.5 billion in 2022 to $3.2 billion last year, citing the Sh2.2 trillion Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery in Lamu and a new $3 billion MoU with Endelevu Enterprise Corporation and Geely for electric vehicle assembly and 1,000 solar charging hubs.
He announced the completion of the 60,000-seat Raila Odinga International Stadium at Talanta, Kenya’s largest arena and main venue for AFCON 2027, befitting Raila’s pan-Africanist role as former AU High Representative for Infrastructure.
Ruto defended the Broad-Based Government, saying it was not a pact for power but a commitment to national unity, recalling Raila’s words at his last ODM PG on 22nd September 2025: “Whatever the differences… we must have a country first.”
He said Raila’s pursuit of electoral justice led to the compensation of protest victims, with hundreds already paid, and the exercise will be extended to families of bodies recovered from River Yala and other victims of extrajudicial disappearances. He added that discriminatory vetting for ID cards in border regions has been removed.
The President revealed that Phase Two of the site will include the Raila Memorial Library, Museum and Research Centre, which will turn the heritage site into a major destination in the Western Tourism Circuit under Tembea Kenya.
He thanked the Ministry of Defence, State Departments for Culture and Public Works, the National Museums of Kenya and the family for delivering the project.
The occasion was graced by Raila’s Spouse Ambassador Ida Odinga, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Musalia Mudavadi, Governors James Orengo (Siaya), Prof Anyang Nyong’o (Kisumu), Gladys Wanga (Nairobi), Ochillo Ayacko (Migori), family members, several regional leaders, and people from all walks of life.
Ruto concluded that Raila’s true mausoleum is not in stone but in every road in a forgotten region, every home rising in Kibra, every elderly Kenyan supported, every farmer empowered and every public office that truly serves the people.
