The Mt Kenya Times 
President William Ruto
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- Many Kenyans interpreted this as cheap and narrow propaganda. They posed: Why did he fail to use this ‘evidence’ to bolster his petition? The law allowed him to file a new petition. Why did he fail to do so? It is noting he had resorted to the same game after losing the previous elections.
- On oil saga, Raila repeated the same claims when he addressed a press conference in Nairobi.
- When the media pressed him to produce evidence, he dodged the questions and instead added a new angle. He lamented that the cartels were not paying corporate tax and linked this to the depreciation of Kenya shilling. How did he expect Kenyans to buy his claims without providing an iota of evidence?
A few days ago, I listened to a speech made by the leader of the opposition outfit Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition Raila Odinga at a public event in his backyard of Luo Nyanza.
He stated that he had dossier on the latest controversy surrounding the fuel imports saga and announced that he was going to drop the bombshell in coming the week.
I will tell you the oil cartels, who were being protected by President Ruto, to raid public coffers and steal your taxes.
The so called government-to-government oil imports deal that Ruto signed with the governments of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) was nothing but a scam.
To me, I did not take him seriously. I knew he was just playing politics. Raila had previously been listed as a key player in the lucrative business of oil. Maybe, this time he had been left out.
This is not the first time he would threaten to release a dossier and when he makes good his threat it turns out to be a hot-air and political propaganda.
For instance, when the Supreme Court dismissed his petition challenging the election of President William Ruto he claimed a few days later that he had a dossier showing he had won the polls.
Many Kenyans interpreted this as cheap and narrow propaganda. They posed: Why did he fail to use this ‘evidence’ to bolster his petition? The law allowed him to file a new petition. Why did he fail to do so? It is noting he had resorted to the same game after losing the previous elections.
On oil saga, Raila repeated the same claims when he addressed a press conference in Nairobi.
When the media pressed him to produce evidence, he dodged the questions and instead added a new angle. He lamented that the cartels were not paying corporate tax and linked this to the depreciation of Kenya shilling. How did he expect Kenyans to buy his claims without providing an iota of evidence?
The problem of currency depreciation is worldwide. It had been partly caused by the USA move to hike the interest of dollar.
For starters, Raila’s family owns the East Africa Spectre International which specializes in the business of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Many believe that during eras of Presidents Moi, Kibaki and Uhuru, Raila took advantage of the political truces he signed with each to push a selfish course of his family’s vast business interests.
Besides East Africa Spectre, the family owns the Molasses plant in Kisumu which was initially owned by the state.
They reportedly purchased the Plant at a throw away price during the Moi era. This after Raila ceded hardline stance and agreed to sign a political corporation agreement with Moi.
It is worth noting that Raila studied in Russia. It is therefore not surprising that his history is littered with all manners of propaganda, unsubstantiated claims and at a time outright lies.
I know here I’m putting myself on cross-fire with his fanatical and diehard supporters.
To them, Raila is a genuine whistle blower. He had previously exposed mega corruption scandals rocking the previous administrations including National Youth Service (NYS) and Eurobond saga.
One thing however remains clear. He always avoided cooperating with the anti-graft agencies to help them get to the bottom of the matter.
When you say so or so is a thief, the onus to prove the allegation squarely lies with you.
It is the same case with the government. The law requires you to submit evidence by way of recording a statement.
Whenever Raila was asked to do so, he always resorted to politicizing this matter.
Don’t ask me to come and share the information I have. Take me to Kamiti Maximum Prison. I have been there for more than 100 times. I don’t fear anything, he once dared the investigators.
This drama was witnessed during the reign of the first term of then President Uhuru Kenya. Dr William Ruto, the current President, was the deputy President.
Many Kenyans would later come to a conclusion. Raila never cared for us. He was just using us for his selfish and personal interests.
This is because he went mute after joining the Uhuru government through the ‘handshake’ arrangement.
With this, the NYS and Eurobond cases were not conclusively resolved. So it was hard to tell whether the scandals existed and if taxpayers’ money was stolen, how much.
It is worth noting Raila had earlier played a similar card during the second term of President Mwai Kibaki.
Hell broke after he refused to accept results of the elections that have just been concluded. He claimed that Kibaki and his top aides had rigged him out in broad daylight.
This triggered political mayhem that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Kenyans and caused destruction of properties worth billions of shillings.
After two months of violence, both Kibaki and Raila caved in to the mounting pressure from the international community. This heralded in birth of the grand coalition government of National Unity where they shared power equally.
Raila become contented and would rarely expose the ills associated with Kibaki regime. He would speak out whenever he smelt a rat that Kibaki’s handlers and confidantes were plotting to bring him down.
But this would not take long. Mzee Kibaki new how to manage his anger and shepherd him back to the path of the government agenda.
For now, my position that Raila should be the last person to hit out at Ruto is further re-enforced by the following. When he was the Prime Minister, he was associated with a number of mega corruption scandals.
One of them was Sh78 billion oil Triton scandal. What had started as rumors that the prime suspect was his close friend came to pass when he was seen dining and winning with him. Then Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi was among those present in what looked like a birthday or farewell party. The photos taken showed them toasting glasses of wine with the suspect.
First forward to the second term of President Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila managed to fight his way and occupied his seat on the high table.
This paved the way for the formation of the ‘handshake’ government. The high cost of fuel was one of the key challenges that stood in their way. While citing this as the main reason for high cost of living, majority of Kenyans started to distance themselves from their administration.
President Uhuru’s twin interventions of introducing oil subsidy and signing government to-government deals with international oil suppliers did not help the matters.
The oil cartels ended up pocketing a huge chunk of billions of shillings allocated by The National Treasury. The interventions which were meant to ensure that there was enough supply and prices of petroleum products are lowered totally failed.
As a co-principal, Raila continued to defend and support these shoddy deals.
Reports at the time indicated that the cartels Comprised individuals who were known to be cronies, friends and close relatives of the duo.
Get me right. I’m not insinuating that two wrongs can make a right.
Just look at timing of Raila’s latest claims. He spoke just two days after launching mass registration drive for new members of his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
During the ceremony that took place in his home county of Siaya, Raila hinted at running for President for sixth time in 2027.
With this, he had kicked the onslaught against President Ruto in earnest. One can therefore understand where the story of fuel scandal came from.
Let me repeat this again. I’m not sweeping his claims under the carpet. However, with due respect, my challenge is. He should be prepared to prove his claims beyond reasonable doubt. Stop it if you don’t. This will save you from being embarrassed and ashamed.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi
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