👑 First Lady's Address
Nairobi, 28 October 2025
High-Level Summit Opening | Radisson Blu Hotel
Kenya's First Lady, Rachel Ruto, has called for urgent investment in clean cooking solutions across homes and institutions, describing the issue as a matter of health, environmental sustainability, and economic justice.
Speaking at the official opening of the High-Level Summit on Unlocking Finance and Investments for Institutional Clean Cooking at the Radisson Blu hotel in Nairobi, Ruto said clean cooking should no longer be treated as a household concern but as a national and continental priority.
"Clean cooking is not just a household issue; it is a human, environmental, and economic priority for our continent. We must invest, not out of charity, but out of justice."
📋 National Policy Framework
She noted that the government, under the leadership of President William Ruto, has made clean cooking a national priority through two key policy frameworks:
- Kenya National Clean Cooking Transition Strategy
- Kenya National Electric Cooking Strategy
"These frameworks are driving investments in cleaner fuels, modern stoves, and innovative financing that enable households, schools, and communities to move away from polluting fuels."
🏘️ Affordable Housing Integration
The government has also integrated clean cooking systems into its Affordable Housing Programme, ensuring that every new unit includes piped LPG gas installations. The First Lady said this integration represents "a future where every Kenyan family can cook safely and sustainably."
Universal Clean Cooking Access Goal
"A promise that no mother or child will pay the hidden cost of cooking with smoke."
⚠️ The Burden of Traditional Fuels
📈 Kenya's Progress
Every year, hundreds of thousands of Africans, mainly women and children, die prematurely from household air pollution caused by burning biomass fuels. In Kenya, access to clean cooking has improved in the past decade:
Still, nearly 70% of households continue to rely on firewood and charcoal.
"I have seen women bend over open fires, their eyes watering, their babies strapped to their backs. No mother should have to choose between feeding her family and breathing clean air."
👩👩👧👧 Women's Groups Leading Change
Ruto said that women's groups across Kenya have become central to the clean cooking movement. Through her own organisation, Joyful Women, she has promoted table banking, a community financing model that allows women to pool and lend money to one another to fund small businesses and home improvements.
"Table banking has enabled women to transition from biomass to clean cooking by giving them access to credit to invest in modern solutions. Women who once cooked over smoky fires are now using clean stoves and fuels, protecting their families' health while building small clean-energy enterprises."
💰 Financing the Transition
Required for National Strategies
⚠️ Only a fraction currently committed
"Our task is not just to mobilise funds, but to redesign our financing logic from isolated projects to coordinated, country-led programmes; from promises to measurable progress; from pilots to platforms that deliver at scale."
📢 A Call to Action
Ruto urged summit participants to commit to concrete action, saying the time for pilots and promises was over.
"Let us dream and act boldly enough to end the toxic smoke that still fills our kitchens. When we finance clean cooking, we finance better health, stronger education, greener forests, and a more equal Kenya."
She concluded by reaffirming her personal commitment to the cause, noting her role as a Champion for Clean Cooking under continental initiatives.
"This cause is personal to me, which is why I accepted the call to serve. That is the Kenya we are building."
🇰🇪 Kenya Leading the Way
Kenya's 2028 goal places it among the most ambitious countries in the region. Success will depend on:
- Sustained investment
- Policy coordination
- Private-sector engagement
- Scaling up institutional cooking technologies