Uhuru Kenyatta allies target William Ruto wealth in fresh attacks

The onslaught against Deputy President William Ruto went a notch higher after top leadership of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee party revealed behind-the-scenes plans to have State agencies investigate sources of his wealth and tax payment records.  

President Kenyatta’s close political confidants led by Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju and the Jubilee party Parliamentary leadership yesterday launched a scathing attack on the DP, questioning how he acquired his vast wealth as revealed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i last week.

“By his own account, the Deputy President is on video record when he told Kenyans that he was worth Sh100 million in the year 2015. In the intervening seven years, he has “worked very hard” in his businesses and now therefore he has assets like choppers, hotels and land worth billions of shillings. We would like to congratulate His Excellency Dr William Ruto for being able to make such amazing strides in business even as he was studying for his PhD concurrently,” said Mr Tuju in a statement read out at the Jubilee headquarters in Pangani, Nairobi.

“The only thing left in his wonderful act of transparency is for him to show us the figures with respect to his very big payment to the Kenya Revenue Authority,” added the Jubilee party official, alluding to tax payments that the deputy president ought to have paid on his vast business empire.

Freeze bank accounts

The Nation understands that there are plans to freeze the deputy president’s bank accounts and send tax demand letters to the country’s second-in-command who no longer sees eye-to-eye with his boss.

Mr Tuju challenged the DP to disclose payments he has made to the taxman from daily earnings of Sh1.5 million he claimed to earn from his massive chicken farm.

Read: Raila allies dare Ruto to declare all his wealth

“We request that as a person who is also a good bible quoting born-again Christian he will shame the devil and publicly give all Kenyans this information. Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what belongs to him,” added Mr Tuju.

The Jubilee party statement followed last Week’s revelations by Dr Matiang’i at a Parliamentary committee hearing in which he revealed 10 prime properties that he said are owned by Dr Ruto.

They include 18,520 acres of land spread across three counties, five helicopters, two hangars, two hotels with a total accommodation capacity of 219 beds, three private residences, a gas company and a poultry farm that is under round-the-clock State security.

Read: I own most of the property Matiang’i listed, DP Ruto says

Dr Ruto’s allies however countered the accusations against the DP, arguing they were made out of anger.

“Jubilee is dead. Kübler-Ross constructed five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Tuju and company are in stage two - anger. Don’t respond to them. They will get better when they reach the final stage of acceptance,” said Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen.

Murang’a senator Irungu Kang’ata said the DP “diversified his investment portfolio to spread the risks. Most importantly, it’s not about DP and his wealth. It is about his policies that relate to Mwananchi. He has championed the best ideas on how to grow the economy.”

“Jubilee is right when it says DP should teach youths how to climb the social ladder. That's exactly what DP is doing by being hardworking and having a strong work ethic. He rises early and sleeps late. He doesn't stop reading hence his PhD,” added Mr Kang’ata.

While confirming Dr Matiang’i’s listing of his properties, Dr Ruto also disclosed that he has 400,000 Safaricom shares and another 80,000 Kenya Airways stocks, confessions which could now haunt him in the coming days as he sets his sight on running for the presidency in next year’s General Election.

“They should have said that there are 200,000 chickens on the farm and I sell 150,000 eggs a day earning me Sh1.5 million,” the DP declared on Thursday last Week.

Read also: Matiang'i unmasks 'Hustler'

Jubilee also resolved to oust Dr Ruto from his position as deputy party leader, citing his open association with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) political party.

“The Political Parties Act is very clear, you cannot promote the interests of another party,” said the Jubilee majority leader in the National Assembly, Amos Kinmunya.

Constitutional expert Bobby Mkangi however said the removal of the DP’s name from the Jubilee party membership list will not affect his position as deputy president.

“That may only affect his position in the party depending on its constitution but not his constitutional position as a deputy president,” Mr Mkangi told Nation.

President Kenyatta’s lieutenants yesterday also demanded that the DP's allies stop their 'attacks' against the first family, seen as a reference to a recent barrage of social media posts purporting to reveal the wealth of the founding president’s family.

“As a party, we are sending the Deputy President a public message that we will not countenance his venturing into crossing this line of referring to the family of the late President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. He must call his goons to order,” Mr Tuju said.

"We continue to resist a lot of provocation, luring us to get into the slimy and smelly social media pig-stay that some of these people occupy,” he added.

Mr Kimunya echoed the calls for the DP to resign, arguing against his continued use of State machinery while attacking the same government he is part of.

“The decent thing would be to take the earliest opportunity and tender resignation as Deputy Party Leader of Jubilee and as the Deputy President. It happened with first vice president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, I also did it myself as Minister for Finance when some issues were raised in parliament,” said Mr Kimunya.

“Every decent person does that but those without decency can continue living a lie, using their official residence for campaigns, their official government machinery and government offices to carry out personal campaigns while talking badly against that same government they are drawing benefits from. We leave it to Kenyans to determine the character of the person,” he added.

Other leaders at the press briefing included Mr Kimunya’s deputy Jimmy Angwenyi, Senate Majority Leader Samuel Poghisio, his deputy Fatuma Dullo, Secretary of the Jubilee Coalition Joint Parliamentary Group (PG) Mr Aden Keynan, National Assembly Majority whip Emmanuel Wangwe and his Deputy Maoka Maore.

Mr Tuju accused the DP of possessing some “political blackmail stock options that he used to his great personal advantage in the first term of (President Kenyatta’s) Presidency.”

“Unfortunately for that so-called UDA, political blackmail stock options have a battery life and a shelf life. Through it all President Kenyatta has remained focused on the big picture for the good of Kenya; implementing the big four agenda and securing peace and stability through inclusion, because without peace, no development and prosperity can be maintained,” Mr Tuju added.

He also dragged the DP’s family into the Arror and Kimwarer dam scandals.

Mr Tuju said the DP had told Kenyans that only Sh7 billion intended for construction of the dams was stolen at a time when he had gone to Rome, Italy, on private business, where his daughter was allegedly the deputy ambassador at the time.

 “To our knowledge, this money has never been returned by the Italians,” he added, alluding to the Italian company that had been contracted to build the dams.

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