Ruto, Gachagua donate Sh1.5m to owner of bus torched in protests
President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua have donated Sh1.5 million to the owner of the bus that was burnt during opposition protests last month.
A fundraiser to replace the burnt bus was held at the Boulevard Hotel in Nairobi on Wednesday night, where several matatu saccos turned up in solidarity with their colleague.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wa was the chief guest at the event where other Kenyan Kwanza leaders also donated their share.
Mr Ichung'wa delivered President Ruto’s Sh1 million, DP Gachagua’s Sh500,000 and his Sh300,000 all in cash carried in a brown envelope.
Matatu Owners Association chairman Simon Kimutai donated Sh110,000; the planning committee had set a target of raising Sh2.5 million.
Speaking at the event organised by the MOA and partners, Mr Ichung'wa described bus owner Henry Mungai as a "true hustler" who rose from washing cars to owning a bus.
The Kikuyu MP also condemned the protests that led to the razing of Mr Mungai's bus.
"A true personification of a hustler is Henry. Mtu ameanza kuosha magari stage and religiously sacrificed to a place where he can go to the bank and be listened to not as a car washer but as an entrepreneur who has a vision and they invest in him," said Mr Ichung'wa.
Like killing him
"And for it to happen that someone can just cut off and kill that dream is like killing him.”
The MP said that after the bus was torched on Ngong Road, he reached out to Mr Mungai and promised to do all he could to support him.
Speaking at the event, Mr Mungai said he had no grudge, adding that the bus was torched when he had taken some loans.
In his speech, the chairman of the Road Safety Association of Kenya, David Njoroge Kiarie, appealed to the government to protect the businesses and property of Kenyans.
"In our constitution, it is very clear that what he (the president) swears to do is to protect the property of the people, the property of Kenyans and their lives," he said.
The bus that was torched was second-hand and Mr Mungai had owned it for barely two months.
