Majority leader Aden Duale says he owes Governor Ruto no apology over remarks

Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto has threatened to sue National Assembly Leader of Majority Aden Duale for alleged defamation over remarks he made on Monday during the Mara Day celebrations.

Speaking at Kapkimolwa trading centre in Bomet East, Mr Ruto said remarks by Mr Duale were in bad faith meant to bring him into disrepute adding that he will sue if the majority leader fails to apologise.

“I will take Duale to court. He cannot be abusing us every time he comes to the region,” said Ruto.

In a response to Ruto’s demand for an apology, Duale hit back saying he has nothing to apologise for and called on Ruto to appear before the Senate’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to answer to questions raised by the Auditor General on the use of over Sh184 million.

“Ultimately, Isaac Ruto must appear before the Senate PAC led by Bonny Khalwale (Kakamega) and if he fails to convince the Senate, his next stop will be Kamiti Maximum prison,” said Duale.

The majority leader insisted that he was right to challenge the Bomet governor to appear before the Senate to shed more light on how the money was spent.

He added that the exact figure according to the Auditor’s report is Sh185,696,194 that Ruto received from the Transitional Authority between April and June 2013.

Rubbishing Duale’s claims that there were audit queries in the last budgetary allocation to his county, Ruto said the clarifications being sought by the Senate arose from the property owned and funds raised by the county’s defunct local authorities.

“We do not have audit queries as a county and Duale was just out to malign my name and he should be ready to answer in court as to why he was doing so,” added Ruto.

Ruto was accompanied by Deputy Governor Stephen Mutai, Longisa Ward Representative Stephen Changmorik and Maendeleo ya Wanawake Bomet Branch Chairperson Sally Kirui during the public Baraza at Kapkimolwa.

Ruto maintained that Duale’s attack was personal and affront to not only his mother but also Kenyan women.

“This was too personal and an unnecessary slander on the person of my mother. I am demanding an apology or else I sue him,” he said.

Duale, however, said his remarks were not in any way meant to offend women but rather he was demanding accountability over the usage of public resources. He said he is ready to face Ruto in court.

At the Mara Day celebrations, and in the presence of the Deputy President William Ruto, Duale hit out at the Bomet governor who is leading the push for the referendum that he must first account for the money his county has been allocated before demanding for more.

He told the governor that the money he is pushing for belongs to Kenyans and not his own funds.

 COUNTY RESOURCES

“I made no bad reference to the Kenyan women. I simply said that in Kenya, there are two types of resources; private and public. In the case of a private resource, it belongs to a family thus I made it clear that the resources of Bomet County do not belong to the family of Isaac Ruto, which is represented by his mother and father,” Duale said.

Ruto, also the chairman of the Council of Governors, said Duale had shown outright disrespect to leaders from the Rift Valley who differ with the Jubilee administration ideologically.

Mr Mutai said it was a mockery to the electorate to abuse their leaders in public demanding that Duale should be held accountable for his words.

“He should not be let to walk free just like that. He has made it a habit to abuse our leaders every time he comes to the region,” said the deputy governor.