While appearing on Punchline, a new political show aired on K24 TV, Deputy President William Ruto gave hard-hitting responses to questions asked by the host, Anne Kiguta.
The interview covered quite a number of issues including the deputy president's wealth, corruption menace, referendum and completion of the stadiums.
The DP declined to answer some of the questions posed to him, while in some, he gave hard-hitting responses. Below are some of the issues discussed during the interview;
1) Wealth
There are many reports and rumours about Ruto's wealth owing to the fact that he did not come from a well off family as is common in Kenya's political arena.
The Punchline show host knew this, hence, took on Ruto, questioning him on why no media house had managed to get any information regarding his wealth.
"Why can't you declare it publicly?" she inquired.
In response, Ruto stated that people were malicious, adding that he would be the first to declare what he owned if the necessary legislation asked him to.
"I declared my wealth as required by law. If you want to know what wealth I have, apply and you will be very surprised. There is fake news, oh he owns Intercontinental, Hotel 680, Boulevard! It is fake," he stated.
2) Corruption
The second in command has always received a lot of heat on the issue of corruption, especially from the opposition politicians, with some making all sorts of accusations against him.
This led to the question of corruption being raised during the interview to which he responded, "If we are not winning the war on corruption, we would not have built 700km of road and built the SGR."
Ruto added that he had a problem with those that were trying to create propaganda out of the corruption issue.
"I have heard crazy statements on corruption. I heard one today that we lose Ksh800 billion year to corruption. Let us remove the propaganda in the fight against corruption," he stated.
3) Stadia
During the 2017 election campaigns, the deputy president had assured that six stadia would be completed by end of that year. However, not a single stadium has been completed so far.
"You said 6 stadia will be completed in 2017. Two years later, where are we?" Ms Kiguta asked.
While answering her, the DP noted that part of the resources had been used during the second election.
"Part of the resources went into the second election we had. All 11 stadia will be completed by end of next year," he disclosed.
4) Referendum
On this, Ruto divulged that a referendum which eases the burdens of citizens was the way to go.
He advised the two sides advocating for a change in the constitution, the 'Punguza Mizigo Bill' by the Thirdway Alliance party, and the 'Ongeza Mzigo' group fronting issues for a public vote, to sit and deliberate on key matters affecting Kenyans.
"We are working with the Jubilee manifesto, making sure that every commitment we made to the people of Kenya is discharged, so these other people, because they have time, shall go and prosecute this punguza mizigo, ongeza mizigo things and we will vote once the proposal is done," Ruto mentioned.
"Kenya is a multi-party democracy. Any legislation that negates this constitutional ideal is untenable and will set us on the path of a dictatorship. We can't contemplate such a scenario as it will defeat accountability, transparency and competent leadership," he added.
