It has been two hot days on the presidential campaign trail. It could get even tenser. Ruto did his one-man solo debate and had a very hard time explaining his plans and more so the glaring failures plus issues that have been a big part of their Jubilee government.
Ruto decided that his job is to blame Uhuru for everything. Kenyans have known him for that in the last couple of years but now he has gone overboard.
But the first stunning thing from Ruto at the debate was his accusations that President Uhuru and his government deliberately removed police reservists from Elgeyo Marakwet and some Rift Valley counties so as to punish the DP. The implication is that President Uhuru has put the lives of people in those counties at risk as a way to punish Ruto.
People are being killed there by cattle rustlers and to suggest that there is a plan by people in government to punish the DP is to accuse the Uhuru government of murder. That is an offense for which that government can be sued in court.
No leader can be allowed to get people killed because of politics. That is the kind of crime that can take you to the ICC. Why would Ruto lie about something like that unless he wants to put Uhuru in some big trouble?
Ruto said the security lapse came in after the handshake when all police reservists were withdrawn by the government over fears they would be his militia.
“When we came to the handshake arrangement, a false narrative was rolled out that all the police reservists in Pokot and Baringo were a militia Ruto would use and all the reservists were withdrawn,” he said.
President Uhuru himself seems to have had enough of William Ruto’s lies and now he is not mincing his words about that.
While opening the Naivasha Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on Tuesday, the President said it was unfortunate that some leaders have resorted to engaging in politics of deceit to gain political mileage at the expense of the welfare of the people of Kenya.
“Let’s shun politics of deceit, Let’s avoid divisive politics. Kenyans deserve politics of development not lies, insults and threats,” President Kenyatta said.
Today while touring Nakuru and talking to the citizens and visiting some of the projects his government has done in the area, President Uhuru had the same words for political liars who don’t want to give Kenyans a time for peace.
Ruto was also put to task over the Arror and Kimwarer dams and why the projects were not completed while he served as DP despite billions of shillings having been paid out.
He defended himself, saying the Arror and Kimwarer contracts were signed at the same time as other government projects and were signed “not by me but by the President of Kenya”.
Ruto said the Kimwarer and Arror dams were meant to fail to frustrate him.
He added that despite the two dam projects being signed at the same time with others, same company and funded by the same financiers but were still canceled.
In February 2019, the DP denied claims that Sh21 billion was lost in the Arror and Kimwarer multipurpose dam projects in Elgeyo Marakwet, saying only Sh7 billion was in question.
Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his co-accused were charged over the dams scandal where the country allegedly lost Sh21 billion paid to an Italian firm for work not done.
His rival Raila Odinga of the Azimio la Umoja has on numerous occasions accused Ruto and his allies of halting the construction of the multi-billion shilling dams.
This one stinks to the high heavens. Ruto claims these projects were canceled to punish him implying the present Kenya government does not want to carry out projects in his backyard as a punishment to him personally.
The main thief who has been charged with stealing Shs. 21 billion meant for the dams is Henry Rotich whom Ruto himself brought to the cabinet and he is from the same area. Ruto in fact defended the stealing of this money claiming that only Shs. 7 billion was missing. Of course for the DP Shs. 7 billion just change money.
The reality is that it is the thieves working with the likes of Ruto who are stealing the money and they are punishing the entire communities that were supposed to benefit from these projects. This is not about Ruto except for the stealing part.
Insisting that the case in court is being dragged for political reasons, the DP said there is a conspiracy to install a government that will inherit the mess.
“How did the government lose sh20 billion shillings and yet there was nothing on the ground. I don’t believe money was lost and if there was, then people should be taken to court,” he said.
William Ruto has realized that the time for sloganeering is gone and now Kenyans want to see real stuff and real plans to deal with problems like fighting corruption, fixing our education system, and improving Kenyan agricultural production for Kenyans to deal with food security issues and not just talk about the price of Unga every day.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
