Yvonne Okwara, Citizen TV's Business Editor, on Thursday, April 13, called out former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, and President William Ruto, arguing that they were embroiled in a blame game rather than turning the country's economy around.
She argued that the two were part of the problem, having served in different capacities in government from 2007 to 2023 and would be better off offering solutions rather than behaving like the squirrel that runs away from its hairy, bushy tail.
“Gentlemen, you were there then. You are here now. You have each, at some point in the past, defended the high cost of living and defended the high debt.
“Stop the blame game, stop looking in the rearview mirror,” she noted in her News Gang kicker.
Speaking on Citizen TV, she pointed out that Ruto and Raila have been a common denominator in Kenya’s politics for the last ten years.
According to the seasoned anchor, while Ruto claimed he was sidelined after the March 2018 ‘Handshake’, he served during former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term in office from 2013 to 2017.
The two have recently disagreed on various issues, such as the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) reconstruction, the opening of IEBC servers, and the cost of living.
“The attempts by both of these men to distance themselves to the past and the decisions that got here is now exhausting. Both men are seemingly stuck in the past and looking for something or someone there to blame for the situation we find ourselves in today.
“Both running very fast from their own shadows. Yet both were a part of our past and more importantly are a significant part of our present,” Okwara lamented.
She noted that Kenya’s third president, Mwai Kibaki, left a national debt of Ksh1.89 trillion. In Uhuru’s first term, the government borrowed more in two years than Kibaki’s government did in its last ten years, leaving the debt at Ksh.9.4 trillion in 2022.
After the ‘Handshake’, the aggressive borrowing continued unabated. For instance, in June 2020, the government borrowed an average of Ksh2.5 billion daily, as pointed out by the business journalist.
In both instances, she argued, Ruto and Raila stood with hands behind their back, seemingly unable to make an input to government decisions.
"Now, depending on which side you support, I know you will take a side. If you support Raila Odinga, you will likely say he is not to blame for the crisis, even though he was one-half of that handshake. You will say he wasn’t really running the country or making decisions.
"On the other hand, if you support the President, you will likely say that he was sidelined in the last term of the Uhuru Kenyatta administration, and it was during the handshake that things went wrong," Okwara did not also spare Ruto, Raila fanatics.
On April 13, Raila called for fresh demonstrations against the government, with the poor economy at the top of the agenda. Raila also cautioned that the opposition would not be bullied into the National Dialogue via bipartisan talks.
