WILLIAM RUTO SENDS OUT A GRAVE WARNING

Deputy President William Ruto has asked MPs to stop wasting time and resources debating issues which have no direct impact on the lives of Kenyans.

He urged them to focus on legislation that has direct benefit to ordinary citizens.

Ruto said there was no need for the legislators to continue to discuss ways of changing the Constitution to create positions for few individuals at the expense of service delivery to millions of Kenyans.

He noted that there were several bills in Parliament including the NHIF one that needed urgent attention from the legislators if the universal health coverage was to be attained across the country.

“MPs should stop wasting time and resources discussing about change of Constitution to create positions for some few individuals instead of prioritising issues that have direct impact on the lives of millions of Kenyans,” Ruto said.

He added, “Where does Parliament have the time to discuss about positions yet it has many pending bills like the one on housing, NHIF among others? It must prioritize issues affecting Kenyans.

The DP made the remarks on Friday at his Sugoi home in Uasin Gishu County, when he met a delegation of grassroots leaders from Bungoma County.

Present were Governor Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu), MPs John Waluke (Sirisia), Dan Wanyama (Webuye West), Didmus Barasa (Kimilili), Mwambu Mabonga (Bumula)and Benjamin Washiali (Mumias East).

Others were Fred Kapondi (Mt Elgon), Caleb Kositany (Soy), Kimani Ichungwa (Kikuyu), Dindi Nyoro (Kiharu), John Njuguna (Kiambaa) and former Senator Bonny Khalwale.

At the same time, Ruto urged Kenyans to ignore leaders who were propagating tribal politics to ascend to power.

He said Kenyans should elect leaders based on their agendas and development track records.

“Days of tribal politics are long gone. It’s time leaders present their agendas and development track record to Kenyans who will make their own decisions,” Ruto said.

He said opposition leaders “who joined the government through the handshake” disrupted the Jubilee’s development agenda including the Big Four that was aimed at transforming the lives of majority of Kenyans.

Ruto said the hustler movement was the solution to politics based on tribalism, noting that it was aimed at changing the country’s current economic model to bottom-up approach to benefit millions of Kenyans.

The MPs termed a bill by Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni that aims to change the Constitution to create positions of Prime minister, two deputies and two Deputy Presidents as ‘dead on arrival’.

Barasa said Kioni’s bill was part of the ongoing schemes to sneak BBI recommendations into Parliament, which had been rejected by the courts.

“I want to tell MP Kioni that his bill is not going anywhere. The government is bloated and no one would want to hear about creation of positions for few individuals while millions of Kenyans are suffering,” he said.

MP Wanyama told off the Ndaragwa legislator for being insensitive to the needs of Kenyans, saying the cost of living was becoming unbearable for the ordinary citizens.

“It is unbelievable that Kioni doesn’t feel for the people including his constituents who have been subjected to untold suffering because of high cost of living. The situation has been worsened by the latest increase of fuel prices,” Wanyama said.

Kiharu MP Dindi Nyoro said the increase of fuel prices was occasioned by the passage of the Finance Bill that was supported by ODM legislators.

“We will ensure the bill by Jeremiah Kioni is defeated by all means. The bill is dead on arrival,” Nyoro said.

MP Kimani on his part, said Kioni’s bill was aimed at creating positions for few individuals at the top leaving majority of Kenyans to suffer.

“We will not support any bill that aims to create positions but we will support the ones that call for the reduction of fuel prices or allocation of more resources to counties,” Ichungwa said.

The legislators vowed to mobilize their voters to support the Ruto for the top seat in 2022, saying his development track record was clear.

“We will rally our people to support Ruto for the presidency in 2022. This is the only leader who is standing with ordinary Kenyans by addressing challenges facing them,” Mabonga said.

Governor Mandago urged MPs to focus more on bills that address problems facing ordinary citizens.

Ruto also addressed wananchi in various stopovers including Kipkaren and Webuye during his tour of Bungoma County.

By The Star