Leave Government so that you can freely bash Uhuru, Wanga tells Ruto

Homa Bay Woman Rep Gladys Wanga and Deputy President William Ruto. [File, Standard]

Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga has challenged Deputy President William Ruto to resign so as to enjoy the freedom to openly attack President Uhuru Kenyatta, with whom he has fallen out.

Wanga said Dr Ruto, who is eyeing the presidency in 2022, finds himself in a tight spot because of his current links with the government.

The lawmaker’s remarks come a few days after the DP told President Kenyatta that Kenyans “did not re-elect him in 2017 to negotiate a truce among NASA principals, who are wrangling over who will face him (Ruto) at the ballot box”.

According to Wanga, the DP still enjoys the privilege of government resources, which, she says, Ruto is using to attack his boss.

“You cannot bash your boss by claiming he is doing nothing [to better the lives of Kenyans], yet you don’t want to leave [the so-called failed government],” Gladys Wanga said on Citizen Television’s Day Break show on Thursday, July 22.

The legislator disagrees with Ruto – that the President achieved more in Jubilee’s first term compared to the second term, which has been marred by disagreements between the two.

In mid-June this year, Kenyatta said he had a higher success score in his second term than the first. He attributed the good rating to his cordial relationship with ODM leader Raila Odinga.

Wanga is in agreement with the assertion that the Head of State has achieved more in his last term in office.

“The President’s first term was blighted by several corruption scandals,” she said, adding: “We have seen him launch several hospitals and other development projects in his second term, more than he did in the previous tenure.”

The MP further accused the DP of practicing favouritism in Jubilee’s first stint in power, when the Cabinet positions were shared almost on a 50-50 basis between Kenyatta and Ruto.

“He is now speaking about empowering the hustlers and uniting Kenya. After being declared winners of the 2013 General Election, he selected members of one community to join Cabinet as Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries. Nearly all the slots reserved for him were occupied by members of a certain community,” Wanga claimed.

The lawmaker said Dr Ruto can’t claim to have transformative ideas, yet he has been in government for two terms and “did not implement the so-called fresh ideas”.

“I’m urging Kenyans to look at his track record as Deputy President. Let them not be hoodwinked by the public relations gimmicks.”

In previous interviews, including the recent one with KTN News, the DP said he couldn’t fully implement the transformation agenda because he was elbowed out of government operations in Jubilee’s second term.

Ruto said the entrance of ODM leader Raila Odinga in government operations—through the March 9, 2018 handshake—derailed the Jubilee development push.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, who was also a guest on the Citizen Television morning show, defended Ruto against criticism over his alleged lack of clear track record because “the DP was prematurely kicked out of the decision-making room”.

“All his functions were transferred to a Cabinet Secretary through an executive order in 2018,” claimed Cherargei.

“ODM is now at the centre of government operations than Ruto is. The opposition party and its leadership should therefore take the blame for Jubilee’s excesses,” said the senator.

On Wednesday, July 21, Ruto accused ODM chief Raila Odinga of derailing Jubilee Party’s development agenda.

The DP made the remarks during a meeting with small and medium entrepreneurs at a Machakos hotel.

Ruto blames Odinga for the “stagnation of many development projects initiated by Jubilee in the first term.”

“After his entry into government, he changed our plans and started pushing for constitutional change. How will political positions and power-sharing deals change the livelihoods of Kenyans?” posed the DP.

In February this year, Raila Odinga distanced himself from Jubilee’s failures, saying he was actively in the opposition in Jubilee’s first term, and that, in Jubilee’s second term, he doesn’t have powers to make decisions.