I am DP because of God and hard work, William Ruto says

Deputy President William Ruto (right) with Nyamira Governor John Nyagarama during a service at Nyansiongo Catholic Church on Sunday. He has said he has personal ‘interests’ in Weston Hotel but dissociated it with the Lang’ata Primary land saga. [PHOTO: DPPS]

NAIROBI: Deputy President William Ruto has attributed his success to sheer hard work, resilience and divine intervention. Describing himself as a chicken seller, the deputy president took a swipe at his political rivals for tarnishing his name because they did not believe he "could go this far".

During a television interview, Ruto also dissociated himself and the Government from corruption allegations.

"It is through the hand of God that I am where I am. When God says you will be someone, no human being can undo it," said Ruto when he appeared on Citizen TV.

The DP said his political enemies have taken to dragging his name into every scandal even when it was clear he has nothing to do with it.

Asked whether he was aware of the ridicule that he has previously received in the social media over corruption allegations associated with him, Ruto answered, "Don't take social media seriously my friend, they can even announce your funeral when you are still alive."

Among the scandals where Ruto's name has been mentioned involve Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, the land grabbing case at Lang'ata Primary School in Nairobi and a case involving land on Ngong Road. But the deputy president has denied any involvement in all these cases.

Ruto explained he had personal 'interests' in Weston Hotel but dissociated it with the Lang'ata Primary land saga.

"I have interests in Weston but the hotel is absolutely different from Lang'ata Road Primary school. Each has it's own title and different owners," he explained.

He added, "Those who claim to own the school land are in court. I want those accusing me to look at me. There is a person who claims to own the land of Lang'ata Road, he has not denied ownership and he is not William Ruto. He is a Kenyan and the owner of an entire estate near Wilson Airport."

The DP argued they had acquired the land where the hotel sits and it was not from Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) as claimed.

"We bought the land and the transfers are there. We acquired it from people who had been allocated the land... we did not buy it from KCAA," he said.

 Hospital deal

On the issue of the controversial Sh17 billion MTRH hospital upgrading by a Chinese firm, Ruto said he stopped what would have been a scandal.

He said the whole deal was a scandal because even the design of the project did not follow any tendering and there was no way Sh17billion would have been spent. Ruto acknowledged that businessman Herbert Ojwang' and a Chinese firm visited his office with the plan but he was not convinced and that is why he stopped the project.

"I come from Eldoret and so I know the hospital. I looked at the deal and told myself there was no space to accommodate the kind of money they were talking about and that is why I moved and asked for land to be identified so that a new hospital could be built," he said.

He added, "I asked them why spend that kind of money in a congested place, when in actual sense the Sh17 billion could built a whole new referral hospital complete with theatres, teaching and lecture halls."

In the MTRH deal, the former Raila PA claimed that he had brought in a Chinese company that was ready to renovate the hospital.

The DP also noted that despite accusations from different quotas, his Government had heavily invested in security and for the first time, police had several vehicles that had seen petty crime reduce.

"I was in Nyamira over the weekend and the head of police told me they have 28 Land Cruiser police cars from the previous four. We now have officers insured and have also bought digital equipment for the force and just to mention, we have a deal with Safaricom where CCTV cameras have been installed in most big towns," said the Deputy President.

He noted for the first time in 100 years, Kenyans were going to have a new standard gauge railway, which was going to ease the cost of doing business.

"We have constructed 13,000 kilometres of tarmac road and cut down the cost of connecting of electricity. We have acquired 4,000 transformers to ensure that many households are connected to the national grid," said Ruto.

On health, Ruto lauded the county governments for improving the sector. He also explained why the national government had waded into the controversial Sh38 billion medical equipment deal for counties.

"It takes six months in a queue for one to get cancer treatment at Kenyatta Hospital and four months for dialysis and Kenyans have to cover hundreds of kilometres to get to Eldoret for an intensive care unit. We thought we will address that by leasing equipment to ensure that Kenyans get better health care," said Ruto.