Kenyan president William Ruto will be on a four-day state visit to China from 22 April 2025. This follows a trip in April by finance minister John Mbadi, who went to seek deals in infrastructure, trade and finance.
These visits come shortly after the government released its mid-term scorecard, highlighting progress on campaign promises.
The scorecard emphasises achievements in areas with the Chinese-funded and -built railway, electricity access, social welfare and education.
In 2024, Chinese president Xi Jinping pledged US$50-billion in investment for Africa, focusing on infrastructure, health, farming, trade and security. Ruto attended the announcement and requested more, with better repayment terms.
As Ruto begins new talks in China, we examine some of the claims in the scorecard, published on 18 March 2025 in MyGov, the government’s newspaper.
(Note: Africa Check has also fact-checked claims from the scorecard related to the economy, health and housing.)
Ruto took office in September 2022. His government’s scorecard claimed that between 2022 and 2024, the standard-gauge railway (SGR) moved an extra 731 188 tonnes of cargo – “reflecting an 11.4% increase”.
The SGR is Kenya’s most expensive infrastructure project, connecting the port city of Mombasa with Nairobi and Naivasha, an inland dry port.
On a standard gauge railway the distance between the two rails, known as the gauge, is 1.435-millimetres. This is the most widely used gauge in the world, including in countries such as the United States, China and most of Europe. In Kenya, the SGR replaced an older metre-gauge system.
According to the scorecard, the SGR moved 5.67-million tonnes of cargo in 2022 and 6.4-million in 2024. By 2025, the government startlingly claims it had already carried 4.12-million tonnes in just two months,
Kenya Railways, which manages railway transport, reported that in the 2021/22 fiscal year, the SGR railway hauled 5 666 375 tonnes of cargo, growing to 6 295 255 tonnes in 2022/23.
These numbers are close enough to the claim. But they also cover financial years, not calendar years as claimed by the government. National statistics based on monthly data show the SGR actually moved:
- 6.09-million tonnes in 2022
- 6.53-million tonnes in 2023
- Interestingly, still 6.53-million tonnes in 2024
This means the 2022 figure used in the scorecard is an underestimate. The real increase from 2022 to 2024 is 440 976 tonnes, not 731 188. The actual percentage growth is 7.2%, not 11.4%.
We rate the claim incorrect.
The scorecard listed this claim as one of the energy ministry’s achievements.
Kenya’s energy regulator releases power generation data every six months. It tracks “installed capacity”, which means “the combined maximum power generation capacity of a country’s power plants”, measured in megawatts (MW).
This electricity comes from different sources: hydro, geothermal, thermal, wind, solar, biomass and methods like the waste heat recovery, where extra heat from factories is reused to make power.
We reviewed the regulator’s latest data to verify the claim.
The data shows the president’s scorecard had wrong figures. In 2022, Kenya’s power generation was 3 161.8 MW, not 3 076 MW as claimed. By December 2024, the latest figure available, it had grown to 3 611.6 MW, an increase of 449.8 MW or 14.2%.
The correct numbers show more progress, so the president missed a chance to tell a more impressive story.
The scorecard claimed progress on the Ruto government’s promise to “support the vulnerable” by expanding a cash transfer programme for older people.
According to a government report from November 2024, the number of older beneficiaries rose from 756 935 in 2021/22 to 1 251 712 in 2023/24. This information was sent by the ministry responsible for social protection to the national treasury.
This growth was linked to “a presidential directive” to add 500 000 more people to the programme.
However, the scorecard again uses incorrect figures. It says the 2022 total was 732 914, but official data from the annual economic survey shows it was 756 935 by 30 June 2022. It also claims the 2025 figure is 1 215 343, but that number was already reported by the ministry in August 2024.
Based on the figures filed with the national treasury, the actual increase is 494 777, or 65%.
But since the data only goes up to 2024, not 2025, the scorecard misleads by using wrong starting figures and an incomplete timeline.
The scorecard included this claim as part of the government’s work to improve electricity access.
Kenya Power, the national utility, reports the number of customers connected to the national grid at the end of each financial year, which runs from 1 July to 30 June.
By 30 June 2022, there were 8 919 440 customers. This had increased to 9 660 005-million by 30 June 2024.
Monthly data from the energy regulator shows that in June 2022, there were 8 919 584 customers. The most recent data, for December 2024, put the number of customers connected at 9 852 423.
These figures match the scorecard and show an increase of 10.5%.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) employs all public school teachers in Kenya.
On 5 October 2023, during World Teachers’ Day, TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said that Ruto’s government had recruited 56 000 teachers in its first year.
The TSC also reports to the national treasury on how it spent its budget. Its most recent report, from October 2024, showed that the Ruto administration hired 61 000 teachers between 2022/23 and 2023/24 (from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024).
|
Teachers hired in Kenya (2022-2024) |
|||
|
Financial year |
2022/23 |
2023/24 |
Total |
|
Permanent and pensionable |
15,000 |
15,000 |
|
|
Internships |
26,000 |
20,000 |
46,000 |
|
Total |
41,000 |
20,000 |
61,000 |
In October 2024 the TSC advertised 46,000 permanent positions across primary, junior and secondary schools.
In December, Macharia confirmed that the TSC had employed 76 000 teachers so far – 56 000 on permanent terms and 20,000 interns. They were scheduled to start in January 2025, she said.
The numbers check out.
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This report was written by Africa Check., a non-partisan fact-checking organisation. View the original piece on their website.
