Presidential Debate: William Ruto answers the hard questions, says it's a hustlers' moment

DP William Ruto with his wife Rachel Ruto at CUEA in Karen ahead of the presidential debate. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] Deputy President William Ruto had the limelight to himself following Azimio flag bearer Raila Odinga's decision to snub a joint presidential debate hosted by media stations. And for one and a half hours, Ruto would answer questions on his plan for the economy, his integrity, shifting positions, and the unfulfilled promises of the Jubilee administration. The DP dug straight in at President Uhuru Kenyatta's alleged "sabotage" of the Big Four agenda, attempting to extricate himself from the affairs of the government in the Jubilee's second term. He projected a victimhood persona, saying that as Deputy President, there was "only much that I could do." That was in response to questions on why he was silent as the government flouted court orders, including its refusal to make public the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) contracts and agreements, a reluctance he said was against the Constitution. On the contracts, the DP said he had advised the President to make them public. But Dr Ruto would also contradict himself with claims that he had influenced some positives of the Jubilee administration. But for most of the debate, the DP alleged a multi-faceted conspiracy to "punish" him, resulting from the March 2018 handshake between President Kenyatta and Raila, which he blamed for the country's runaway cost of living, insecurity and many other ills. The ghost of the Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal came up, with the DP saying the project was designed to fail to punish him. "The contractor was denied the land on which to set up the dam... the reason was given then was that the dam was in the forest," the DP would allege of a wider conspiracy allegedly involving investigative agencies that he tied to the perennial insecurity of the Kerio Valley region. He was put to task over whether any money was lost in the scandal, denying that the taxpayer lost any money and warning that some "Sh7 billion" he said was already spent on the project would be eventually lost. On the Kerio Valley insecurity issue, he said that he had been "punished" for his active peace-finding missions. But he was at pains to respond to questions that he had been silent in speaking out against the insecurity and did not issue the evidence that would prove the conspiracy he claimed. DP William Ruto speaks during the presidential debate. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] The DP's onslaught on the administration in which he serves did not end there. He blamed the collapse of mega projects aimed to make the country food secure, too, on the handshake. For instance, Dr Ruto said the failure of the failed Galana Kulalu project was projected to cost some Sh7 billion, down from an initial Sh14 billion, on the government's alleged refusal to act on recommendations emerging from a pilot of the irrigation scheme. "We had a Big Four plan that foresaw all this (high cost of living)... that plan fell apart," he said. "There was a recommendation that we needed to build a dam," Dr Ruto would say of the flopped Galana Kulalu Irrigation Scheme. "It did not move because we didn't get the dam." But the DP was put to task over the fact that Galana Kulalu failed to take off in the first term, in which he and President Kenyatta were still on good terms. He was questioned on the contractual issues that caused the project to collapse. "We made it a deliverable of our second term," he would indirectly acknowledge that the mega project did not, in fact, collapse because of the "handshake", which he also blamed for the "withdrawal" of agricultural subsidies. Dr Ruto said that a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) government would set aside some Sh30 billion revolving fund to fund access to agricultural inputs and an additional Sh12 billion on extensions. That, he said, would increase agricultural output three-fold. The DP also spelt out his plan to cut the country's debt, which he said included "slowing down borrowing, halting unbudgeted projects and raising revenue." He said that the government had spent in excess of Sh100 billion in unbudgeted expenditure, criticizing the renovation of the Uhuru Gardens National Monument and Museum, which he said cost the taxpayer in the region of some Sh15 billion. DP William Ruto speaks after the presidential debate. [Denish Ochieng, Standard] On his integrity, the DP said termed claims linking him to corruption as "allegations, made left, right and centre. Raila had declined to attend yesterday's debate claiming that he could not share a podium with a person of alleged unquestionable integrity. "My competitor is not here because he doesn't want to answer difficult questions... he did not come here because he is not the candidate. He is a project," Dr Ruto said of Raila's absence. He also faced questions on the cost of petroleum products, proposing a relook of the VAT tax. But he was reminded that he initially supported the imposition of VAT on fuel as a condition by the International Monetary Fund. "We live in a dynamic world. Only fools don't change their mind." And that would contradict his recent fightback on renegotiating debts with international lenders. "It takes a courageous government to have discussions with development partners," he would say before saying that he did not entertain discussions on renegotiating debt that involved conceding that Kenya could not pay its foreign debt as that would "send a wrong signal." He committed to accepting the results of a fair electoral process.

Presidential Debate: William Ruto answers the hard questions, says it's a hustlers' moment

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