I was cut out of Ruto's Western tour, Senator Osotsi says trip turned to UDA affair

Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has summed up the five-day development tour of President William Ruto in western a “divisive party affair meeting” that lacked the regions’ blessings.

Osotsi who is among the toughest defenders of Raila Odinga said the head of State’s team were divisive and never bothered to invite him to the meetings even those that took place in his own county.

“The tour's overarching focus on unprintable utterances targeting my Party Leader Raila Odinga and disseminating unfavorable and demeaning narratives sought to alienate the majority of Azimio supporters. This approach perpetuated division rather than fostering unity of purpose and cooperation,” he said.

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Osotsi questioned why the planning team never bothered to extend an invite to him as a duly elected Senator of Vihiga County if the tour really meant political goodwill.

“As the duly elected senator and a senior leader in the county, I was neither invited nor involved in any preliminary tour planning meetings by the organisers. This omission affirmed that the event was a UDA Party affair and representatives from the Kenya Kwanza coalition,” said Osotsi.

During the visit the president had labeled Raila Odinga as a rubble rouser who led mass anti-government demos which affected the economy negatively at the expense of engaging in gainful activities like farming.

But an angry Osotsi said earlier attempts to invite Ruto for targeted development projects in Vihiga had been cut out by UDA insiders who believe the presidency was a party affair.

The legislator regretted that he had served a development memorandum to the President along with other local leaders in January which he feared could be gathering dust at his Harambee House office.

“Notably, on January 18, 2023 elected leaders of Vihiga County, led by Governor Wilber Ottichilo and myself at the invitation by the Office of the President, held extensive discussions with key government officials under the chairmanship of the CS for Interior Prof Kindiki (the minutes of which are in my possession) and an agreed memorandum was officially delivered to the said office,” he said in a protest statement shared to media houses.

“Unfortunately, it has been seven months since and no subsequent feedback or progress reports have been provided on the developmental initiatives discussed,” he added.

Osotsi said the lack of response and feedback has majorly been compounded by the assertions by key UDA leaders that some Kenyans are not shareholders despite being taxpayers.

He equally said majority of the projects launched by Ruto have unresolved audit queries which must be explained and resolved before further funding by either levels of government.

The Senator said co-funding such projects without addressing the underlying queries is blatant violation of the public financing laws.