Deputy President William Ruto has said
that Azimio Presidential candidate Raila Odinga cannot lower the cost of living
even if he was to ascend to power because “he does not understand problems
facing the common man.”
Ruto said Odinga “has never slept hungry”
and expecting him to address challenges facing the poor would be demanding too
much from him.
He said only his government can be trusted
to lower the cost of living because Kenya Kwanza leadership understands the
problems facing Kenyans at a personal level.
Ruto who spoke in Kirinyaga during a
campaign rally at Kianyaga town in Gichugu constituency and at Kamucege in Mwea,
blamed the skyrocketing cost of living on handshake between President Uhuru
Kenyatta and Odinga.
“The biggest problem that we have in Kenya
is that Odinga and his colleagues have never slept hungry and therefore they
don’t know what that means,” he added.
He said Kenya Kwanza has a marshal plan on
how to turn around the economy by pumping in investment funds into the textile,
leather and wood industry, value addition, Agro-processing and housing.
“It’s not enough to have a plan, we are
saying we need a master plan and in Kenya Kwanza, we have a marshal plan that
will create employment of our 5 million youths who have graduated and have no
jobs,” added Ruto.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA)
presidential candidate asked Kenyans to come out in large numbers to give him a
first-round win against Odinga.
He asked Odinga to prepare for a
humiliating defeat on August 9, saying he cannot run away from blame on the
problems currently facing the nation.
Ruto accused Odinga of denying Kenyans the
right to know the agenda he has for development by failing to attend the
Presidential Debate that was televised across the nation on Tuesday.
He said Odinga had deliberately failed to
honour the invite for the debate because “he has no agenda for the people and was
just moving around selling empty rhetoric.”
“Odinga has no plan for the country and
this is why he ran away from the debate,” Ruto claimed.
Ruto further asked Azimio leadership to
allow the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to execute its
mandate without threats, intimidation and blackmail, saying the opponents had
sensed defeat.
His running mate Rigathi Gachagua asked
Mt. Kenya people to rally behind Ruto because this is where their interests
would be safeguarded.
Gachagua claimed that Azimio Presidential
running mate Martha Karua had been “handpicked by Uhuru so as to protect the
interests of Kenyatta family” and not those of the people from the region.
Governor Anne Waiguru said increased cost
of living was chocking Kenyans and the August 9 presents them with a chance to
get economic freedom.
Waiguru exuded confidence that UDA would
bag all elective seats in the county and asked voters to rise up early to send
Odinga and Karua home.
“Enough is enough, freedom is coming. We
are tired because of the high prices of fuel, maize flour, cooking oil and
other essential commodities. Its time to reclaim our freedom,” she added.
Others who addressed the rallies included;
Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Gichugu
MP Gichimu Githinji.
