President William Ruto during a media engagement session at State House, Nairobi on January 4, 2023. PHOTO | PCS
President William Ruto painted a far from rosy picture of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta in Wednesday night’s media interaction at State House, Nairobi. In President Ruto’s book, the former head of state made huge blunders during his tenure.
These mishaps, President Ruto said, mainly in decision-making, have cost Kenyans dearly on the economic front and will need more time to fix devoid of the campaign promises initially made.
Here are the instances during the media interaction when President Ruto appeared to blame his predecessor and one-time boss:
1. Maize subsidy – President Ruto said his predecessor spent billions of shillings to subsidize the price of unga, which in his view was a wrong move. He also insists the subsidized unga was not even readily available for Kenyans who struggled to access it and instead, the billions benefited a chosen few, whom he did not name.
The Head of State further claimed, without substantiating, that the price of maize flour, Kenya’s staple food, would currently be retailing at Sh300 per 2kg packet if he had not won the presidency.
2. Fuel subsidy – Similarly, President Ruto blamed Mr Uhuru Kenyatta for subsidizing fuel. He claimed the subsidy plan did not make economic sense and instead Kenyans lost billions of shillings that would otherwise have been used to improve other aspects of the economy.
“The subsidy introduced was a political decision, not an economical one,” he said adding that the electricity subsidy, which cost up to Sh 3 billion per month, was not a long-term solution to the cost of living in Kenya.
3. Galana Kulalu – Again, President Ruto said he believes his predecessor messed up with the Galana Kulalu food project. Worse, Dr Ruto claimed a scheme had been hatched to subdivide the tens of acres of land into subplots that will be distributed to the public, thus denying a chance for the government to farm the land and offer extra food to Kenyans at a reasonable cost. President Uhuru Kenytta’s regime sank billions of shillings into the project in a bid to improve the country’s food security.
4. Rogue police – President Ruto said policemen under Uhuru Kenyatta’s watch had become rogue, so much so that many innocent people were murdered and thrown into a tank somewhere in Nairobi. He went to explain that that is why he fired former DCI boss George Kinoti.
“Thirty bodies in Yala, 17 in Garissa, there was a container here at Nairobi area where people were being slaughtered, in a police station…how did we end up there? What kind of rogue institution was that? And that is why I fired that Kinoti man because it’s not right. There will be responsibility,” he explained.
5. DPP – Finally, President Ruto also said the Director of Public Prosecutions, was forced to prosecute innocent people against his will. That’s why, Ruto argued, the likes of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Cabinet Secretaries Mithika Linturi and Aisha Jumwa plus Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja and controversial politician Ferdinand Waititu are now innocent people despite several allegations on criminal charges.
The president also claimed that the DPP was threatened and asked to resign if he did not join in the tune.
President Ruto, despite being Uhuru’s principal deputy for a decade, also blamed him for the country’s huge debt burden, insecurity in parts of the country, electricity subsidies and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) multi-billion contract.
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