By Hassan Wekesa - Editor
Kenya, 10 September 2026 - U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to pay every adult American citizen $5,000 (KSh 647,250) if Republicans take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the U.S. Congress in the November mid-term elections.
His promise, made in Dallas, Texas, comes amid tensions between the U.S. and Iran, where he has consistently claimed that Tehran was doing everything possible to ensure Republicans perform dismally in the U.S. mid-term elections.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic... tremendous economic success like in history we have never had anything like it is happening. But because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen of the United States of America for 5000 Dollars,” Trump said as supporters cheered.
His promises to the electorate draw comparisons to Kenya’s election campaigns, where citizens are promised much but implementation stalls almost at the next minute after winners of elections for various seats are sworn in to assume full responsibility or start to serve.
“The economy of the U.S. is doing much better than during any other regime,” Trump boasted.
This is not the first time Trump has promised such payouts. He earlier proposed that adult American citizens be awarded $2,000 (KSh 258,900) from customs revenue collected from imports.
The earlier promise never materialised.
When seeking re-election against Joe Biden of the Democrats, Trump had promised that there would be no more foreign wars and that he would lower the cost of living for Americans.
However, he did exactly the opposite, and now he convinces Americans to withstand the high cost of fuel for a few more months as he works to ensure that Iran poses no threat of owning a nuclear weapon.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran has had devastating effects, including the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz which, before the war, was an important shipment route for more than 20% of the world’s fuel.
The Houthis, who are opposed to the Israeli invasion in Lebanon, have intensified tensions with Saudi Arabia and are closing in on control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another key strategic route, which has led to a rise in the price of petroleum products, with economic pain being felt the world over.
More from Kenya
In Kenya, President William Ruto recently made pledges that he intends to come up with a framework that will ensure university education is free at a time when students are claiming that the current funding model is not only expensive but unreliable because even the student upkeep loan delays, leaving 'comrades' to struggle and literally starve on campus.
To many citizens, Americans and Kenyans, pledges by politicians give hope, but the level of wastage and loot of public resources make them lose a lot in terms of development.
Kenya has implemented the NYOTA Fund, targeting youth empowerment, and the government on Monday announced a new programme to boost businesses.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki stated during a Karen meeting with other government officials that the broad-based government plans to roll out the Kenya Jobs for Economic Transformation (KJET) programme in October to support thousands of micro and small business enterprises across the country to acquire common-user equipment for value addition and small-scale manufacturing at the local level.
“Clusters of micro and small enterprises selected equitably from every county, constituency and ward levels will be assisted with common-user equipment, to add value to dairy, coffee, tea, leather, artisanal mining, blue economy, edible oils and leather enterprises,” Kindiki stated.
He said the support will be in the form of matching grants of a non-repayable 50% of the cost of the equipment, to be disbursed in three cohorts in October, November and January.
The KJET enterprise support component rollout, just like the ongoing National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Project, will target rural entrepreneurs who in the past have been underserved due to the informal nature and small scale of their enterprises.
Such pledges and initiatives can be good and enticing, but if they turn out to be just another fraud from a government that boasts of having been elected by the people, it can only be another way of taking voters for a ride.
Trump’s $5,000 Dividend, Ruto’s Free Education Pledge and the Harsh Reality
U.S. and Kenya leaders make bold cash and education promises to voters.