Ruto ally says youth wrong to raise land issue

The message passed by Pope Francis touching on land grabbing, tribalism and corruption during his three-day visit to Kenya has elicited mixed reactions from a cross section of politicians in the North Rift.

Deputy President William Ruto’s long-serving ally Isaac Maiyo said the Pope’s message on land grabbing, which has rocked public institutions, should be left to the Judiciary to handle.

Mr Maiyo, who served as Constituency Development Fund chairman for Eldoret North when Mr Ruto was the constituency’s Member of Parliament, said the youths who met the Pope in Kasarani should not have been used to raise the matter with the Pontiff and instead should have left him to dwell in a prayer and reconciliation mission.

“The youths were not guided much and should not have raised the issue of land grabbing, tribalism and corruption to the Pope,” Mr Maiyo said.

“They should have left the Pope to pray for the country and not criticise us as Kenyans since he is not our judge.”

He alleged that it could be the opposition that fed the Pope with the information in order to distort the government’s image in the fight against these vices.

Mr Maiyo, who is currently the director of the National Irrigation Board, said it was not wise for outsiders to come and lecture Kenyans on how to address issues of tribalism, land grabbing and corruption.

“It’s our collective responsibility as Kenyans to deal with our problems. Kenya is a sovereign state and outsiders should not come and dictate to us some of the thorny issues which are rocking the country since we have adequate policies  to deal with such issues,” he said.