Inside Ruto’s Billions Spent on WRC Safari Rally

President William Ruto has revealed that more than 2 billion shillings were spent by the government in the 2023 WRC Safari Rally, claiming that this year’s expenditure on the global sporting event will be remarkably lower.

Ruto, who spoke during the flagging-off ceremony of WRC 2025 at KICC in Nairobi, said that his government has clamped down on the hemorrhaging expenditure in the sporting event during the last two years as compared to when Kenya first hosted the competition in 2023. 

According to Ruto, Kenya splashed out a staggering 2.1 billion shillings when the competition was held in 2023 during Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure. That figure has, however, been gradually reduced in the last two years by Ruto’s government to 1.3 billion shillings in 2024 to 980 million this year when the competition is being held for the final time.

“This rally cost the government 2.1 billion in 2023. I gave very firm instructions to the ministry that that figure should come down. I am happy that in 2024 it came down by 800 million to 1.3 billion, and I insisted that this year it must cost less,” Ruto stated.

For the WRC 2025, the government banked heavily on private sponsorship deals to cut losses. The WRC team raised a total of 400 million shillings to facilitate the event, in addition to more resources pumped in by foreign and local sponsors. CFAO Mobility, a local car manufacturer, contributed more than 33 million shillings in sponsorship deals, leading tens of other companies in sponsoring rally drivers and directly supporting the event.

The WRC Safari Rally has also been a monumental economic booster. The 2025 event is expected to inject approximately Ksh7 billion into the Kenyan economy, benefiting sectors such as tourism, hospitality, and local businesses.