Be orderly while receiving my Sh2m donation, Ruto tells Homa Bay residents

Deputy President William Ruto on Thursday, November 11, urged Homa Bay Town residents to exercise civility while receiving the Sh2 million he donated during his campaign trail.

The deputy president made the remarks in Homa Bay Town, where he took his presidential campaign on the third and final day of his Nyanza tour.

The DP said he did not want to witness a repeat of what happened in Kondele, Kisumu County on Wednesday when chaos erupted after groups allegedly clashed over the distribution of his campaign logistical funds.

On Thursday, Ruto said he had set aside Sh2 million for the welfare of Boda Boda operators and traders in the Homa Bay Town market. Boda Boda operators were allocated Sh1 million and traders promised Sh1 million by the DP.

Ruto said the money will be distributed to the groups on Friday, November 12.

“Be peaceful while receiving the funds,” the DP said while addressing a roadside gathering from his vehicle’s sunroof in Homa Bay. “I don’t want to hear or see chaos erupting [as a result of the donation].”

“Tomorrow morning (Friday, November 12), organise yourselves into small groups so that the money can be given to you [by my logistics team] in an orderly manner. I don’t want to witness any chaos,” he emphasised.

On Wednesday, police attributed the chaos witnessed in Kondele to disagreements over how the monies donated by the deputy president would be shared among the residents.

Police, through spokesperson Bruno Shioso, said they had alerted Ruto of possible chaos and even advised him to avoid the area during his campaign trail, but the DP ignored their alert.

 Ruto’s communications team, led by David Mugonyi, however, faulted police for the statement, saying they (police) had “profiled members of the Kondele community as violent”.

In his quest to win more voters from his archrival Raila Odinga’s political bedrock, Ruto told the residents that he, in the past, did everything possible to hoist Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta to higher positions in government and that it was now his turn to have a piece of the cake.

“You all know that it’s me who helped Agwambo (Raila Odinga) to get the prime minister’s post in 2007. You’re all aware that it’s me who helped Uhuru Kenyatta win the presidency in the 2013 and 2017 general elections. It’s now my turn to represent you, Kenyans, at the high office. It’s not written anywhere that Ruto’s only function is to make kings and princes,” he said.

The DP said he was aware that both Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga have teamed up to lock him out of the presidency.

“I know they’ve planned to defeat me. However, I’m telling them that I also have my own roadmap, which will surprise them. You’d hear them calling me a thief or criminal so as to incite the electorate against me. However, when I was on their side, they didn’t see a thief or criminal in me,” said Ruto.

President Kenyatta is on record saying the deputy president began sabotaging his unity agenda when he (Kenyatta) reached out to ODM leader Raila Odinga for a peace pact in March 2018.

“He (Ruto) is going against the same Government that he serves. The issues that we have been trying to solve through the BBI are the same issues that brought him and I together [in the run-up to the 2013 General Election],” President Kenyatta told senior media editors in an August 23 interview.

“So, if I want to expand that [quest for national unity] … Bringing people together has always been my agenda. If he and I could team up following divisions that arose from the 2007 General Election, what’s the problem with bringing more and more [people] on one side? What’s the problem with that? [When we do that, I believe] it doesn’t deny you the chance [of realising your political goals]. I love my country. I will continue advocating for inclusivity,” said the president.