Disappointment as Ruto fails to attend funds drive

Deputy President William Ruto in Nyamira county on 2/11/2021. [Sammy Omingo,Standard]

Deputy President William Ruto yesterday failed to attend a series of fundraising activities in West Mugirango constituency over what his pointmen said was "unavoidable circumstances".

Congregants in the 35 churches who were waiting for Ruto to raise funds were disappointed after they learnt he was not going to attend the church events.

The DP was scheduled to fundraise for Nyansabakwa Catholic Church of Rangenyo Parish; Omosasa Catholic and Bobembe ELCK.

The Bobembe fundsdrive was the major event where close to 30 churches from different denominations were to attend.

Instead, Ruto, who went to Mt Kenya, was represented by host West Mugirango MP Vincent Kemosi and his Borabu counterpart Ben Momanyi.

Kemosi said the DP had a tight schedule and would not be available until March 2022.

"You can bear witness how busy the Deputy President is. All along he has been promising he would be here but as it turned out, he couldn't make it," Kemosi said.

Among the churches that were to benefit from the funds are the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Lutheran Church and all evangelical churches drawn from West Mugirango constituency.

While addressing the faithful at Bobembe, Kemosi said the community should support Ruto in his bid to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022. 

"The DP is the only sure bet for us as a community because we have seen all that he can do for us. We should support him unconditionally."

Momanyi, who is eyeing the Nyamira governor seat, took the opportunity to lure the faithful to support his bid.

He seemed to be reading from a different script when he said there was a lot of goodwill from Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga stemmed on unity and development.

"You all know that I support the Handshake and what Raila and Uhuru are doing for the country in terms of ensuring peace and tranquillity. That is what I also stand for and I only pray that you support them," Momanyi said.