Deputy President William Ruto has accused the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader, Raila Odinga, of selfishness and stinginess, over what he termed as his tendency to abandon Kenyans in their time of need.
Speaking when he hosted Kajiado and Samburu religious leaders at his Karen residence, the DP stated that Odinga has always shunned participating in any funds raising activities to aid suffering Kenyans.
"Our friend who we are competing with never attends fundraisers for churches, schools and also women groups. Even an offering in the church itself is a problem," stated DP Ruto.
Ruto added that Odinga has never kept issues of public interest at heart and that he has always come out whenever he needed their votes.
"Some people are lucky because sometimes they get 20,000 votes, and you wonder he (Raila) gets them from the electorate yet he has done nothing," added the DP.
The DP pleaded with Kenyans to support and elect a generous person like him in the 2022 presidential bid as he has always stood with Kenyans while other leaders castigated him for attending church fundraisers.
Mathira Member of Parliament, Rigathi Gachagua, who was also present, stated that since Odinga entered into the handshake pact with President Uhuru Kenyatta, he has diverted all goodies from other communities to his tribesmen.
"He said he would help people since he was in government, yet he has taken all development projects to Kisumu. That is why communities such as Kamba and Pwani have run away from him," stated Gachagua.
Ruto's comments come at a time when Odinga and his camp have heightened criticism against the DP's public contributions, terming them as cheap tokenism from proceeds of unlawful activities.
The Deputy President has been on a money dish-out spree in his recent campaign meetings, offering exorbitant amounts to youths, Boda Boda operators and women groups.
However, the United Democratic Alliance party leader has defended his move stating that he intends to motivate small business owners in line with the philosophy of his bottom-up economic model that he is using to woo Kenyans to elect him into office.
