Of Ruto, sex, corruption and politics

There is a lot of hubbub around Ruto’s declaration that he will be gunning for the Presidency. Though not new, (Remember his dismal bid in 07) the media splurge has concentrated their lens on his vituperations and puerile indignation against Raila and not the odds against his grandiose project. The battlefield is the Kalenjin Rift Valley. A keen observer will most likely find out that Ruto’s rabid attempt to balkanize the Kalenjin Community from the rest of the country is for bargaining purposes rather than a credible stab at the presidency. But since he insists that he is serious about it, then we must shift the scenario of the debate from Rift Valley to Kenya and weigh his chances objectively vis-à-vis personality, resources at his disposal, organizational ability, issues and appeal with the international community.

Personality

William Kipchirchir Ruto’s personality in public is genial and affable. A wide grin and a tight handshake are always on the ready. However, knowing him closely will reveal a cocky and derisive person especially when dealing with the poor, his workers and staff. Interviews with employees and members of the public, who have interacted with him, paint a picture of a harsh snob who has no time for the unfortunate. He sneers, scowls and shout at you whenever you ask for a job or favor. His smiles are reserved for the cameras and public rallies. Even MPs who follow him around have in many occasions been snubbed and shouted at. He wears his amicable self when seeking favors from those who are equally or more moneyed than him. He dismisses other people as fools, his favorite adjective.

Ruto never keeps friends unless convenient and useful for that time. In fact, he does not have a single friend. The MPs who traversed the country with him in his ill-fated shot for the Presidency in 07 were all dumped as soon as they lost in the ODM nominations. Besides, he did not come to their financial aid prior to the nominations but rushed to finance whoever won. Those who were presumed to be close to him like former Eldoret East MP Joseph Lagat and former Kipkelion MP, Dr Sam Rutto are languishing silently and cursing Ruto publicly. The story is the same for his former allies in the last parliament. He ignores their calls and openly snubs them whenever they visit him at Kilimo House. He has taken the art of use and dump to a whole new level.

In terms of corruption, he could be the most shady and fraudulent presidential candidate ever. A legion of corruption cases are pending in court. The maize scandals are still fresh. His AMACO insurance business is notorious for tax evasion. His hotel under construction opposite Wilson Airport sits on stolen land. His Easton Apartments in Jogoo Road was built with stolen cement from Portland Cement. His flat under construction in Rongai is on a disputed plot. The list is endless. All Ruto’s wealth is ill-gotten and I wonder whether any sober Kenyan will even contemplate electing him. In fact, he had grabbed a public road reserve connecting State House to Uhuru Park!

His escapades with women are legendary. He is risqué and immoral in all extent of the meaning of that word. It is not uncommon to see young girls queuing for sex and money in his private office in Transnational Plaza every evening. He had converted his Continental House Office to a brothel before being appointed a minister. His aides claim that he cavorts with at least three women in a day. MPs have been warned not to introduce their wives or daughters to him. His home is crowded with children from extra-marital affairs not to mention a dozen others he has fathered. Relationship with his wife is nothing to write home about. His family saga is already in the public domain. One thing that baffles his aides and accomplices is that he never use any form of protection! It is unimaginable to have this sex maniac as a role model for our children in this time and age.

There is a widespread misconception that Ruto is a very generous man. It cannot be further from the truth. The truth of the matter is that he buys influence. He is indeed a master of cash diplomacy. Whenever there is a hot issue or a function he would want to appear before the cameras, he will always pay 100 000 Kshs to every Mp to attend and be seen alongside him. That is why he is very popular with broke first time young MPs like Kuttuny and Dr. Kones.

He cherishes an aura of a wealthy man. On Harambees, he will contribute generously to curry favor with the public. When it comes to his employees, family or an individual without influence, the case shifts dramatically. He can’t part with a dime. He only invests where he is sure of maximum political returns. Woe unto you, if he owes you any money, he never services his debts. Even bills. Power disconnections are common in his house!

Resources

Resources are a very important factor in winning a presidential race in Kenya. A well oiled campaign machinery requires an upward of Kshs 2 Billion. Ruto is worth but an eighth of this.

That Ruto is a very wealthy man is nothing but a myth. He is a man of means but not as much he would want us to believe. His hubris, flamboyance and ostentations have helped perpetuate this myth amongst the innocent public. In 2006 and up to 2007, Ruto was at the verge of bankruptcy. He was running a costly campaign backed by insufficient resources and unwilling donors. His salary in parliament was a paltry Kshs 100 000 because of loans. He was earning Kshs 300 000 per week as allowances in AMACO, 1.5 Million from rent in Eastons Apartment and Kshs 300 000 from rent in Matiny property in Rongai and yet his campaign budget was Kshs 2 Million per week. There was a huge gap that had to be filled. His major donor, Mr. Joshua Kulei was fatigued. Yagnesh Devani of Triton was getting pissed off. Harambee checques were bouncing by the dozens. Moi was fighting him with money that he could not match. He was in dire straits. To bridge the expenditure gap, he withdrew more and more from AMACO driving it almost belly-up.

He begged for cash left, right and centre. His home in Karen was up for auction by HFCK over unpaid mortgage to the tune of Kshs 3 Million and ditto for his houses in Rongai. Transnational Bank was threatening to sue over a 6 Million overdraft.

He was a man under siege. He sold off his plots in Nairobi but the reprieve didn’t last long. All along people used to claim he had cash stashed in foreign accounts but it was untrue. Kulei upped his weekly handout to Kshs 200 000 per week but it was insufficient. He wanted to be seen flush with cash but the image was too expensive to sustain. When he was an inch to the cliff the Raila presidential campaigns came. It was such a relief for him.

He harassed Asian tycoons to contribute to the ODM kitty through him. He is such a formidable resource mobilizer. He applied the YK 92 tactics. Money flowed in millions. The money did not get to the ODM secretariat but he utilized it to sort his financial woes and fund ODM Members of Parliament in Rift Valley, Upper Eastern, Coast, North Eastern and some in Western Kenya. Each to a tune of between 1.2 Million and 3 Million. Some of the lackeys and poodles namely Aden Duale, Ababu Namwamba, Dr Julius Kones, Charles Keter, Joshua Kuttuny and many others following him around owe their allegiance to this money.

His financial godfather Mr. Joshua Kulei gave him a whopping Kshs 300 Million in cash and a white Range Rover ( it carried a KAG registration but was changed to KAW 583) 60 Million of which he forwarded to ODM Secretariat and kept the rest. Former Triton tycoon, Mr. Yagnesh Devani, gave him 50 Million and a green Mercedes Benz E 350 (formerly carried a KAM registration but was irregularly plated KAW 600 Q, same as his green Range Rover 4.8). Not a single cent got to the ODM kitty. Kabuito Contractors magnate gave him Kshs 10 Million and a white Range Rover Discovery. These amongst many other major donors contributed almost 500 Million.

He dazzled and dazed friends and foes alike in the campaign trail with his newly acquired wealth. Even Raila himself was enthralled.

The massive millions he retained were used to jumpstart the construction of the hitherto stalled Weston Hotel (still under construction opposite Wilson airport) bought a farm for Kshs 40 Million from his business partner and MD of AMACO; Mr. Silas Simatwa and renovated his decaying Karen home. He also shilly-shallied with a consultant to build a resort in Karen.

The money he is splashing around is from sugar, maize and fertilizer tendering kickbacks in his Agriculture Ministry. If Ruto was to be fired today, then his presidential ambitions and nationwide campaigns will grind to an immediate halt. This is because he has not improved his investment portfolio since his 06/07 presidential campaigns and his relationship with his bankroller Mr. Kulei is on the rocks. He is liquid owing to his ministerial position and thieving habits but not wealthy. Only addition are the twenty China made lorries he bought from the maize scam proceeds doing transit business registered under BZK, formerly Buzeki.

Ruto’s assets can be summarized in a single paragraph: AMACO, Easton Apartments, Osere Flats in Rongai, Weston Hotel (under construction), Karen Home in Koitobos Road worth 28 Million, Elgon View Home, Sugoi Home and Farm, twenty Lorries (China made). Period. These investments cannot finance a Kshs 8 Billion campaign war chest as it was claimed in a section of the media a few weeks ago.

Campaign Organization

Organization can break or make any campaign. Obama’s campaign was a great success owing to the way he related with his staff and the free hand he gave Mr. David Axelrod to run the campaign.

With the benefit of hindsight from his failed presidential bid in 07, Ruto cannot measure up to the demands of team work necessary in a campaign of this caliber. He believes in one man show. Those who have worked with him will tell you a story of a control freak. He is hardworking, yes, but a presidential campaign is demands a formidable well coordinated campaign secretariat. In 2007, he didn’t have a secretariat but utilized the offices of Katwa and Kemboy Advocates. His ‘secretariat’ members were made up of Katwa Kigen and Julius Kemboy only. These are the people who wrote his manifesto.

His biggest undoing is money. He never believes in anybody else handling campaign money and never had a budget for the secretariat. He plays accountant, auditor, cashier and everything relating to his money. He never delegates because he believes himself to be perfect. His conceited and bigoted ego cannot allow him to learn any lessons from his 07 presidential debacle.

Since campaigns have become more high-tech and classical campaign methods are giving way to more sophisticated techniques, it remain to be seen whether he will conform. To start with, he is not computer literate; he cannot open mails nor access the internet. How he will utilize social networking sites is hard to fathom. Though he is currently on Facebook, it was his former personal assistant who ran the now dormant account.

Issues

Ruto is generally brilliant but uninformed and miserably knowledgeable. He never reads and neither does he keep himself abreast with international news. He has but one book of political quotes. That is why his speeches are replete with disjointed bookish quotes. He is so uninformed he once asked whether Iran is in South America. He would have made a formidable opponent to anybody had he spared himself some time to read and get informed.

Since he joined politics in 1992, Ruto has written four articles to the press. He has moved only one motion in Parliament. He is an avid debater but he is lacking on policy. He is yet to bring meaningful changes in the Agricultural sector. Scandals are more conspicuous than life enhancing policies. If he was to write a CV applying for the presidency then his credentials can hardly fill a single page. His track record is fit for a new address in Kamiti Maximum Prisons and not State House!

His history does not augur well with the aspirations of many Kenyans who want a clean break from the past. It will be interesting to watch him defend his tainted past in presidential debates. New economic dispensation and an end to corruption are dear issues in the hearts of many a Kenyan electorate. His records are ether bleak, obscure or dirtied in all these accounts.

International Appeal

Ruto’s international credentials leave a lot to be desired for a person who wants to run for presidency. He has zero connections with the international community. His image is tattered by numerous corruption cases that have dogged his political career. The US and the EU once banned him in early 2007 on corruption related issues. That is why he mobilized other ODM luminaries against accompanying Raila on his trip to the US the same year. His Visa has since been reinstated on unclear grounds but it might be cancelled any time in the light of new corruption allegations against him.

Weighed against Raila and Kalonzo, Ruto is an obvious light weight on this score and many other fronts.

In all fairness, it is obvious that chances of William Kipchirchir Ruto ( note that he adopted the name Samoei in 1997 for symbolic reasons, even his ID does not bear it)becoming the fourth president of the Republic of Kenya are tantamount to those of a dog becoming a lion! It is only but a decoy to balkanize and later auction the Kalenjin vote to the highest bidder.

Comments:

Anonymous said...

crap crap
January 19, 2010 10:01 PM
Anonymous said...

get your facts right idiot, so much non sense in your boring article
January 19, 2010 10:03 PM
Anonymous said...

Sounds better than has been alleged! If all this is true he's actually better than all his competitors.
I think you are just disgruntled because he fired you.
January 20, 2010 1:26 AM
SayAfrica said...

thenkx for all those comments
January 20, 2010 2:18 AM
Nameless said...

This is very important information. Thank you for a well researched article. Kenyans will not vote for a murderous thief
January 20, 2010 10:11 AM
Anonymous said...

We need to write facts and only facts for public consumption in all issues that touch on our leaders. An article that peddles lies and misrepresents facts in public domain is not only a candidate for libelious prosectuion but downright immoral and unacceptable before the eyes of right thinking minds of the public. If the author of this article escapes punishment, he or she should count his or her luck. This article appears to have been written by one Mr Samoei former PA of the subject, he seems to be very disgruntled and a bitter man, especially after the subject refused to endorse him for the Sotik parliamentary seat against the sitting MP, even though, reliable sources indicate he was given Kshs 700,000 and only garnered 40 votes in sotik by-election, after the sad demise of Hon Lorna Laboso. It is also a public secret that the author took money from the subject on pretense that he would pay for his MBA program at a local university. To add insult to injury, the subject has reportedly sought to distance himself from the bitter author, after receiving ovwerwhelming adverse complaints on the author from the public, including soliciting sexual favors from every female visitor and bribes in order for the author to arrange much sought after appointments with the subject. We hope by pouring his bitterness to the public, his soul and spirit may now go easy.
January 26, 2010 2:13 AM
cornelio said...

Dude,some unfounded claims that cannot be defended need not to be put across,in all fairness i believe all the political leaders in kenya have dirty linen,the question should be who has a slightly dirty linen?
Lastly,with all that said go ahead and post the characters of the rest who have declared their presidential ambitions..
Cornelius-Kipkorir-tx
January 26, 2010 10:22 PM
Anonymous said...

i happened to have worked across Ruto's office in continental house in 06 n i can vouch for some of the claims to be through of the said Ruto! if people could know who ruto really is, i bet my bottom dollar that nobody will touch him with a long stick
January 27, 2010 1:30 AM

Was Warlord-in-Chief Uhuru Kenyatta bribed to alter civic nominations list?

Recently, national coward Samuel Kivuitu complained that Local Government Minister and premier mungiki financier Mr Uhuru Kenyatta had irregularly nominated 100 kanjoras contrary to the list that was forwarded by the disgraced ECK. Today, it emerged that the minister's PA, another bandit called Njoroge Kariuki was arrested by the feckless Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority, KACA while receiving a fifth of the one million he should have been paid to facilitate the payee's nomination to the Nairobi City Council. Questions are, by paying a million bob, how much does a kanjora expect to earn? The most important question is, how clean is Uhuru in this a-million-for-nomination-scandal?

Kariuki was arrested on Tuesday at his Jogoo House offices by officers from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) after he allegedly received Sh200, 000 from a person who was seeking to be nominated as a councillor at the Nairobi City Council.

According to the police, the money was part of Sh1 million the suspect had demanded from Ms Halima Saloo, who was seeking the nomination.

According to a statement from KACC, Kariuki was arraigned in court at 3pm facing charges of soliciting and receiving a bribe, contrary to Section 39 (a) as read with Section 48 (1) of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 20.

But speaking at his offices yesterday, Uhuru denied that Kariuki was not his PA but was only involved in the civic elections exercise.

However, the minister called on the investigating authorities to get to the bottom of the matter and ensure that justice was done.

Kariuki was yesterday charged before Nairobi Principal Magistrate, Lilian Mutende, who released him on a Sh250, 000 bond and a surety of the same amount. “I cannot defend him. This should serve as an example to other officers who are tempted to engage in corruption in the ministry where I am the head. They will not survive,” said Uhuru.

This came after a storm was raised in the run up to mayoral elections where some names of nominated councillors were struck off the list published by the minister.

Among the cases was that of Adopt-A-Light former managing director, Esther Passaris, over conflict of interest as she had pending cases she has sued the council.

The move resulted in a protracted war of words between Passaris and former Nairobi mayor and Makadara MP Dick Wathika, whom she accused of cancelling most of her contracts entered into with the council.

But in her defence to the minister’s assertions, Passaris said she was a different entity from her company, and hence, the minister should never have used it as a reason to reject her nomination.

Meanwhile, a crucial document in the Sh64 million fraud charge leveled against a director of East African Safari Express is missing from the registrar’s office, a court heard yesterday.

The prosecutor, Elias Njeru, told Senior Principal Magistrate Rose Ougo the document he wanted to use in a case against Antony Kegode was missing from the registrar’s file.

Kegode is charged with obtaining Sh64,188,487 by pretending that an aircraft he offered as security belonged to his company, East African Safari Air Express Ltd, based at Wilson Airport. The case will be heard on April l6, l7 and l8.

Payback time as Mungiki now begin to hit at the Kibaki heart

Now is payback time as the Kibaki banditry and the conspirators of the electoral heist are targetted by Mungiki. In a hard-hitting expose and letter addressed to members of the recently launched GEMA "Renaissance" Movement, the gang has earmarked virtually all the members of the wealthy backers of Kibaki's banditry. God forbid but soon, we may see souls falling.

Read on.

Mungiki now lambasts TPRM/TPDF - CENTRAL COMMITTEE

You are NOT fooling anyone with your cowardly emails. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM and NOT THE Solution to the Community’s terrible situation or the country’s equally terrible mess.

In the first place, you are Kibaki's sycophants and cheer leaders. You have blindly supported him on his journey to destroy the community and the country with his lack of leadership.

In the 2nd place you continue to divide the Kikuyu community into "haves"and "have not", Ngati na Itungati, Royal Families and Commoners. Your sole mission now is to impose the children of those who have as leaders so that you can continue ruling the community from your graves.

Your children are beneficiaries of the enormous wealth, which you have stolen from 1963 and before ’63, benefits given to you as bribes by the colonialists with whom you were collaborating. All these years, you have sucked our blood. You live on our sweat and you now have the audacity to style yourselves the saviours of our community!

In 1992, you conspired to stop Hon. Kenneth Matiba who cares for the poor and has no time for your class system from taking over as President. You, the “Royal Families” rallied behind Kibaki and formed D.P. at the 11th hour to split the Kikuyu vote. To you Moi was preferable to Matiba and his supporters who were “tumundu tutu” You do not care at all about the thousands displaced from their farms, businesses and properties. If truth be told, you do not care how many more are killed.

All you care about is your hold on power to continue with your obscene accumulation. This is why even now you are leading the country to civil war and disintegration. You have killed thousands of our young men whose only crime is being poor and unemployed on the pretext that you are “crashing”and wiping out “mungiki”. Only recently, you murdered Boniface Maina and his wife Elizabeth Nyambura in cold blood and dumped their bodies at Karura forest.

Their young children are now orphans. And you entrusted the crashing to Kimendero the crusher to continue and finish the job he was doing in the 1950’s! You can rely on the pseudo mungiki youths who in truth are merchants on hire claiming the brand name mungiki.Before on behalf of the Community we confront those in the country who think they can isolate and exterminate the Kikuyu community, we shall sort you out first.

You are the Traitors to the community. Your stomachs is your only concern. When you are issuing your threats; do NOT for one moment think that you have the monopoly of violence. What you have is the wealth stolen from the masses and we shall come for that too.

Do not ostracize one of your own Charles Mugane Njonjo because of his personal differences with Kibaki. He is one of you. The others are Emilio Mwai Kibaki, John Njoroge Michuki, James Njenga Karume, George Kamau Muhoho, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, constituting the House of Lords and the recently constituted cast of Maina Kamanda, Amos Kimunya, Martha Karua, George Thuo, Dick Wathika, Lee Muchiri, Beth Mugo, na kanda cianyu cia moko, Murathe, Muigai Njoroge and Kamau Ngunjiri. There are others. We know them all.

Inyui Inyuoothe ni-inyui thaata cia Ruriri na cia Bururi.We are ready for you.

State 'sanctioned' Kenyan clashes and killings by Mungiki

Having been asked to defend the bandit government in its times of crisis, Mungiki now feels short-changed and abandoned, we can reliably report. This morning, members of the gang were caught up in police running battles in which tear gas cannisters were lobbed to disperse them. They were protesting the incaceration of their leader Maina Njenga. We recently reported that Njenga was still Mungiki, and not many people took us seriously.

And in what is likely to hurt the PNU thugs, the BBC has learnt of allegations of state-sanctioned violence in Kenya during the recent post-poll crisis. Sources allege that meetings were hosted at the official residence of the president between the banned Mungiki militia and senior government figures. The aim was to hire them as a defence force in the Rift Valley to protect the president's Kikuyu community. The government has declined to respond to the allegations which are likely to be investigated by a new commission.

The allegations come as parliament is due to open on Thursday preparing the way for a new coalition government. Although parliament's focus will be on healing ethnic divisions and creating a coalition government - allegations of state involvement with a banned Kikuyu militia, known as Mungiki, will not go ignored. Not least because of growing suspicion that some of the violence that led to 1,500 people being killed and hundreds of thousands displaced was orchestrated by both sides of the political divide.

Gangs with machetes The BBC source, who is a member of the Kikuyu tribe and who is now in hiding after receiving death threats, alleged: "Three members of the gang met at State House... and after the elections and the violence the militias were called again and they were given a duty to defend the Kikuyu in Rift Valley and we know they were there in numbers."

On the weekend of 25 January, the Rift Valley towns of Nakuru and then Naivasha were the focus of the some of the worst post-election violence. Eyewitnesses spoke of non-Kikuyu homes being marked, then gangs with machetes - who they claim were Mungiki - attacked people who were from other ethnic groups. Sources inside the Mungiki have told the BBC that it was a renegade branch of the outfit that was responsible for violence, not them.

A policeman who was on duty at the time, who has spoken to the BBC on condition of anonymity, has also pointed to clear signs of state complicity. He alleges that in the hours before the violence in Nakuru, police officers had orders not to stop a convoy of minibus taxis, called "matatus", packed with men when they arrived at police checkpoints. "When we were there... I saw about 12 of them [matatus] packed with men," he said.

"There were no females... I could see they were armed. "We were ordered not to stop the vehicles to allow them to go." The current and previous minister for internal security have both been invited to respond to the allegations. So far they have declined to do so. The allegations come at a time of growing concern that there was pre-planned violence on both sides of the political fence, in the aftermath of Kenya's disputed election result.

The International Crisis Group has already raised such concerns in their report and Human Rights Watch is expected to publish its report making similar claims shortly. There are plans to establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the coming weeks to examine claims of election violence. The allegations are likely to be among the themes investigated by a commission created to address the issue of post-election skirmishes.

This may be the beginning of a long drawn out war between Mungiki and the Grand Coalition. It is believed that Mungiki adherents are fearing for a merciless clampdown by the police whose minister is likely to be from the ODM. Time to go look for the warlords who helped recruit the mungiki is now. The group has been hunted down and killed before including their bodies being dumped at the Ngong Forest.

Confirmed: Mungiki in police uniforms

A respected South African news outlet has confirmed our fears that the police was made up of shoot-to-kill mungiki goons in uniforms. The mungiki gang is taking orders from a detachment of police under some rogue police bosses. The dreaded gang has not only killed mellitus mugabe were but are also harassing well dressed Kikuyu girls. Police sources confide that up to 50 victims of ethnic violence in Nakuru and Naivasha were headless. This is exactly how mungiki killed some 200 people last year in Nairobi and central province. Human Rights Watch claims that close to 300 of the dead were killed by mungiki in police uniforms. How long this loose army of wealthy businessmen and politicians from Kibaki's tribe will take before they turn on their funders is unknown.

Mungiki is getting guns from lawless Somalia

Mogadishu's notorious arms dealers are supplying Mungiki with guns bought with the help of the North Eastern PC Mr Kiritu Wamae. They will be ferried across into Kenya using government vehicles to avoid customs and scrutiny. The vehicles are entering Kenya though Garrissa and Mandera headingfor Central Province. The guns will then be issued and transported to the Rift Valley and Western provinces using some cargo vehicles from mungiki sympathizers under the escort of friendly police officers.

Criminals against humanity in Kenya

Mungiki, a tribal ragtag army is killing for hire. The hireling is the state of Kenya and the bankrolling is in the hands of government politicians.