Raila: Ruto's alliance with church is unholy

Orange party leader Raila Odinga has renewed his attacks on William Ruto, claiming the deputy president has stepped up his acts of charity to the church and groups to mask his ties to grand corruption.

According to Raila, the DP has always opposed any form of reform towards minimising the scope of graft in Kenya while manipulating Christians to mask his intentions and plots.

The ODM leader suggested that Ruto was exploiting the gullibility of faithful to mask his source of resources and accused him of belittling government's efforts to combat corruption.

Raila cited the DP's defence of suspects implicated in the Arror and Kimwarer dams projects that saw former Finance Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and other Treasury officials charged over graft.

"You walk around with money in sacks and pouring it all over in church every Sunday then quote the Bible to prove how pious and philanthropic you are," said Raila.

Raila claimed the DP's increasing acts of charity were suspect and should be investigated to determine the source of money he has been dishing out to youth groups.

"You are all over the place with money. Today you are giving water tanks, tomorrow you will give wheelbarrows and you cannot explain where these millions are coming from."

Raila said church leaders should shoulder the blame for accepting Ruto's huge donations gladly without questioning his intentions and source of wealth.

He said the conduct of some senators opposed to the revenue-sharing formula despite their counties gaining was suspicious because they were conflicted out of financial inducement by a saboteur he did not name.

Raila addressed several meetings in Taita Taveta and delivered his most scathing attack against Ruto in Mwatate, where he also drummed up support for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

He told delegates the BBI seeks to fight corruption by strengthening governance, adding that he had appealed to the Commission on Revenue Allocation to devise a new revenue-sharing formula that will disburse money based on population but also give equitable funds for sparsely-populated areas that depend on pastoralism, wildlife conservation and fishing as economic activities.

The former premier suggested that pending a consensus, the Sh316 billion budgeted for counties this year should be shared based on the formula used in the last financial year and indicated that the reason counties were fighting was because of meagre resources.

He said the BBI will solve this problem by increasing revenues to 35 per cent of national earnings.

Raila also claimed that Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala faked an arrest in his Kitengela house on August 17 to cause paralysis in the Senate and sabotage a vote on the contentious revenue-sharing formula after receiving a cash inducement.

He did not provide details of how Malala pulled off the alleged scheme but indicated that the senator called police officers to his house to stage a purported arrest that ended up paralysing the Senate.

Raila claimed Malala and his alleged accomplices were sabotaging a fast solution to the revenue-sharing crisis for some sinister reason.

"There is a sinister plot here. You call the police to come and arrest you so that you can cause a crisis. He was conflicted after receiving some inducement from somewhere. After failing to account for the money you have received you stage a fake arrest," he said.

Raila also defended BBI from claims it seeks to create posts for himself and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“The BBI is not meant for Raila to be president and President Kenyatta to be the prime minister. It is not meant to expand the Executive to give some few individuals jobs as claimed by critics,” he stated.

Speaking at various meetings, the ODM leader said the BBI will not increase the budget allocation in government because ministers will be appointed from among the elected legislators.

He said under the BBI, more resources will be allocated to counties to transform the lives of Kenyans.

Capture power

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho said ODM had made great strides and was strategising to capture power in 2022.

“We have made major strides and we should strategise to form the next government,” Joho told a closed-door meeting in Mwatate.

The governor hinted that ODM will partner with like-minded parties to form a formidable force ahead of the general election.

“Dr Ruto has been visiting the region telling locals that he is a hustler and representing the poor. He is living a lavish life while Kenyans are struggling to make ends meet. He is not a hustler and he should not tell us that he is standing for the poor lot yet he accumulated wealth through corrupt means,” claimed Joho.