President William Ruto’s chief economic adviser David Ndii has drawn renewed public attention after making blunt remarks on social media about corruption and Kenya’s economic transformation agenda.
The exchange unfolded on X, formerly Twitter, in response to public concerns linked to a newspaper report on the Ksh5 billion industrial parks project.
The discussion was triggered by an X user reacting to the report, which detailed alleged misuse of public funds in the construction of industrial parks.
The user questioned the viability of President Ruto’s frequently cited ambition to model Kenya’s growth on Singapore, arguing that corruption and poor governance undermine development.
“Talking about Singapore without confronting corruption, bad governance and waste of public resources is unrealistic,” the user wrote, adding that accountability was essential.
Responding directly, Ndii stated: “We will transform Kenya economically, leave it as corrupt as we found it, and leave it to policy wonks and economic historians to argue endlessly how we did it.”
Ndii did not reference the industrial parks project specifically but framed his response as a broader view on economic transformation.
The remarks come at a time when the government is pushing industrial parks as part of its bottom-up economic agenda, aimed at expanding manufacturing, creating jobs, and boosting regional development.
The projects have been positioned as key to increasing local value addition and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.
However, concerns around governance and public finance management remain prominent in national discourse.
Reports on the industrial parks have raised questions about procurement processes and cost overruns, placing renewed focus on how large-scale development projects are implemented and monitored.
Ndii, an economist and long-time public intellectual, has previously defended market-driven reforms and rapid economic restructuring.
His latest comments, however, have stood out for their direct acknowledgment of corruption as a persistent feature of Kenya’s system, even as the government pursues ambitious growth targets.