Deputy President William Ruto, while speaking in Garissa on Friday, visibly angry, seemingly lashed out at former Prime Minister Raila Odinga maintaining his position over investigations into the alleged stolen billions for dam construction.
Raila, while at the ODM party National Executive Council meeting in its headquarters in Nairobi, hit out at Ruto for dismissing claims that Ksh21 billion had been misappropriated in the construction of Arror and Kimwarer dams.
The ODM leader maintained, “Nobody is above the law, and if somebody is stealing, don't go out and shout there and tell us that ooh Ksh7 billion is nothing.”
He added "Ksh7 billion is not pocket change! Sio pesa ya kununua mandazi halafu wanaenda pande hii wanasema ooh sisi ni wakulima.. akitoka pale ooh mimi ni mfugaji.. yeye nikama popo" (It is not money for buying mandazi and then you loiter in areas saying you are farmers, again at another place you say you are shepherds, you are like a bat).
In seemingly direct response to Raila, the DP Ruto emphasized that the war on corruption would not be won "by exaggerating figures and introducing mandazi economics that don't make sense.
"I want to remind the 'Lord of Poverty' that you told Kenyans that if you lost elections you are going to cook mandazis in Kibra. Why are you not cooking mandazis? Why are you importing mandazinomics to the government?" he ranted.
“They have whipped together a narrative to try and criminalise and bastardise these development initiatives. The lords of poverty, people who have benefited from keeping people in the slavery of poverty want to criminalise every development initiative.
“They have orchestrated and are driving a narrative that every government initiative has a corruption element in it,” he added.
Ruto was keen to single out some communities in arid and semi-arid areas such as those relentlessly engaged in cattle rustling.
The DP asserted, “Let me tell the people peddling falsehoods not to target William Ruto or individuals. This is not about a person or personalities, it is about 100,000 people in Arror and Kimwarer who will get clean drinking water.”
Watch the video of the DP below:
