2013 Presidential Aspirant Cyrus Jirongo, on the night of Wednesday, January 15, opened up about a time Deputy President William Ruto conned him millions after he awarded him (Ruto) a T-shirts tender in 1993.
In a tell-all interview on KTN News' Pointblank, Jirongo candidly disclosed that he was introduced to Ruto by former Funyuls MP Julia Ojiambo and the DP approached him seeking the tender.
He went on to add that he awarded the then young man the tender to supply him Tshirts after the 1992 campaigns but Ruto adopted a dodgy technique where he colluded with the storekeepers to supply the same 1000 shirts 10 times and get the full payment.
He further noted that the DP was not a member of the then-upcoming Young for KANU 92 (YK92) and was just a young man making inroads into politics.
"William Ruto was never part of YK92, William Ruto was part of the young men who spent their time at KICC at the Youths and Women's office with Dr Julia Ojiambo. I actually came to know William Ruto properly after the elections in 1993.
"William Ruto then, after the 1992 campaign, looked for friendship with me through Fred Amayo (a former government employee). I was a bit hesitant but they pushed very hard. I told Amayo that this young man you brought into my office and asked me to give him a contract to supply 10,000 T-shirts, you remember he did not supply the 10,000 T-shirts," stated Jirongo.
"Instead, he brought 1000 Tshirts and repeatedly brought the same T-shirts 10 times so I ended up paying him Ksh`1.2 million shillings because a T-shirt then cost Ksh120.
"What he did was he tried and corrupt the young boys at the stores where he would deliver a thousand T-shirts and they give back to him to deliver again," he continued.
He further revealed that before their union in 2010, President Uhuru Kenyatta had been skeptical about Ruto's motive and claimed that the DP often used people before dumping them.
"Uhuru knows that William Ruto has had no respect with most people he has worked with. He doesn't respect Jiirongo who introduced him to Moi, he has no respect for Moi. He has no respect for Raila.
"He is aware of who he is dealing with. William Ruto takes advantage of people," he continued.
Ruto, in previous interviews, has dismissed Jirongo as a disgruntled old politician who refused to accept that power dynamics changed with him, who was the junior, holding a powerful post in government.
In September 2018, Ruto donated Ksh2 Million to bail out the former presidential candidate from jail. Jirongo was arrested for failing to pay a Ksh20 Million debt owed to businessman Brian Yongo.
