The Story of ‘Kalenjin Billionares’ Was Designed To Taint The Image Of Ruto For Political Reasons

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga 

Worth Noting:

• The previous Kenyan heads of state and government had appointed their cronies and close allies some from their respective community to serve in strategic top-notch public dockets. They were considered because of the role they had played to bankroll and support their respective election campaign.
• Unfortunately, some of them had been adversely mentioned as the key architecture of mega corruption scandals.
• The late Cabinet Minister George Saitoti was one of them. President Mwai Kibaki had appointed him to serve in a powerful docket of Internal Security. This is despite Saitoti’s name having been implicated in multi-billion Goldernburg scandal that shook the country during the era of President Daniel Arap Moi.

Sometimes back a local weekly newspaper published a story titled ‘Ruto Kalenjin New Billionares’.

At the time I wrote in this column that the story had been cooked and borne out of malice.

This was the work of the well-known critics of President William Ruto.

The story was designed to cast him in bad light that he did not believe in the war against corruption.

He was instead taking Kenyans for a ride.

My prediction has come to pass. This is because up to date, no one has ever stepped out to prove or substantiate the claims.

This again vindicated the position of those who reasoned that the claims bordered on raw propaganda and a white lie.

It is worth to recall the allegations had been made at a time when President Ruto had escalated the war against corruption.

His eyes were trained on purging the rogue and corrupt riddled state officers and civil servants in the three arms of the government-Executive, Parliament and Judiciary.

The work ethics and laws regulating the field of journalism does not allow members of fourth estate to originate or be the sources of the stories.

So, the authors relied on the views they had gathered from the political leaders and other opinion shapers.

The previous Kenyan heads of state and government had appointed their cronies and close allies some from their respective community to serve in strategic top-notch public dockets. They were considered because of the role they had played to bankroll and support their respective election campaign.

Unfortunately, some of them had been adversely mentioned as the key architecture of mega corruption scandals.

The late Cabinet Minister George Saitoti was one of them. President Mwai Kibaki had appointed him to serve in a powerful docket of Internal Security. This is despite Saitoti’s name having been implicated in multi-billion Goldernburg scandal that shook the country during the era of President Daniel Arap Moi.

Saitoti had not cleared his name by the time he got that coveted job.

Get me right here. I’m not saying that two wrongs can make right. For Dr Ruto’s allies, there was no evidence linking anyone of them to corruption scandals.

This is not the first time we have heard the names of such leaders being dropped and linked to imaginative corruption scandals.

The allegations were all along being peddled by leaders of the opposition outfit. This time, the top leaders of ODM and Azimio coalition were at work.

Many Kenyans believe this is because they lost the elections of 2022, period. They were yet to come to terms that Dr Ruto had defeated them.

For Raila Odinga, the loss was so devastating and painful. He never thought he can lose at a time when the outgoing President, Deep State and System was on his side.

Dr Ruto was however clever. He had coined the narratives of the hustlers versus Dynasties and bottom-up economic model. This enabled him to rally majority of Kenyans behind him. That is how he beat Baba with ease.

Since he assumed office, President Ruto’s strategy of fighting corruption has been resonating very well with the masses.

This is because it is viewed as a radical departure from Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidency.

Uhuru was known for talking tough but without taking any tangible action.

There was a time he said that Sh2 billion was being stolen every day in Kenya but this matter ended there.

He had earlier shocked Kenyans when he hosted the heads of anti-graft bodies at State House Nairobi.

Though many would have expected him to take on them for frustrating his administration’s efforts to fight mega corruption scandals, he instead appeared helpless as he threw his hands in air. Uhuru posed: What do you want me to do? Kenyans interpreted this to mean they were on thier own.

President Ruto has so far made great strides. When a plot to steal Sh3.7 billion from the Global Fund meant to buy and supply mosquito nets to the downtrodden Kenyans was brought to his attention, he immediately nipped the plot in the bud.

He fired the senior officials at the Ministry of Health and Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) who had been adversely mentioned.

He also called for the prosecution of the culprits.

The President have also been cracking the whip to streamline other sectors, the latest ones being Athi Water Works Development Agency, Rift Valley Water Works and Kenya Forest Service (KFS).

At Water Works, the heads of the two agencies are among top officials being investigated.

At KFS, he endorsed the decision of the board to send 29 managers and forest rangers packing. Those culpable should face the law.

The Azimio coalition is yet to prove their claims despite receiving a strong back-up from a section of the mainstream houses championing thier course.

In yester years, Azimio leader Raila Odinga had curved a niche of being a whistleblower. He had indeed become a household during the reign of President Mwai Kibaki and his successor Uhuru Kenyatta.

He had unearthed and exposed a number of mega corruption scandals. He would ride on these campaigns to forcibly join the government and occupy his seat on the high table. The role of whistle blowing would come to an end. So, Kenyans would end up being the biggest losers.

Until recently, we know Raila was harboring a major grudge with President Ruto.

So, one would have expected him to be in forefront of exposing the so called corruption scandals if they ever existed.

He would not dare to do this. Reason? He knew he would end up being embarrassed and ashamed because of peddling outright lies.

He had left his brigade to play this card. By painting Dr Ruto in bad light, he hoped this would make him soften his stance and invite him for talks.

It has dawned on him that Dr Ruto is a hard nut to crack. He cannot succumb to these tricks designed to blackmail and intimidate him.

With this, Raila had been left with only one option. To reach out and make peace with the President Ruto. The latest developments show this has come to pass.

From the onset, Ruto was ready for dialogue but the top guns of ruling Kenya Kwanza government were opposed to talks.

Dr Ruto was however aware that if things go wrong the buck stops with him. He first cornered Raila when he convinced him to support his idea of setting up the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO) co-chaired by Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Majority leader Kimani Ichungwah. The final report prepared by a 10-member team was adopted by Parliament a few days ago.

It is worth noting. Raila lost the election to Dr Ruto. After being declared the winner by the IEBC chairman, Raila filed a petition at the Supreme Court of Kenya to challenge his victory. He lost the case and the court upheld the Dr Ruto’s victory.

Also, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka confirmed this when he spoke in Machakos during the commemoration of the Saba Saba (7/7) day. He stated. Our leader Raila Odinga lost but Ruto won with a slight margin of 60,000 votes. This explains why the country is divided in the middle. We therefore call upon Ruto to respond to our calls for dialogue.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi