Keep off Ruto, leaders tell Raila

Some leaders in the Rift Valley region allied to the Jubilee Alliance have defended Deputy President William Ruto over the ownership of the Weston Hotel.

Kericho Senator Charles Keter dismissed demands by Cord leader Raila Odinga that the President orders the hotel’s seizure to prove he is committed to the fight on corruption.

Last week, the Opposition leader asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to order the hotel’s demolition and prosecution of its owners, because the ownership of land it stands on was transferred from government to private hands controversially.

“We want to tell Mr Odinga to stay away from the Deputy President and to stop talking about issues related to the hotel. We are tired of his empty political rhetoric. He should mind his own business because no one talks about his issues,” said the senator.

He was speaking on Saturday in Naiberi, Uasin Gishu County during a fundraiser in aid of seven churches. The senator was accompanied by MPs Samuel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi) and James Bett (Kesses) and Mr Farouk Kibet, a former councillor, who is also the deputy president’s personal aide.

Last week, Mr Ruto claimed that Weston Hotel in Nairobi was built in Lang’ata Constituency when Mr Odinga was both the Prime Minister and the area member of Parliament.

Mr Chepkonga asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the former premier in connection with the molasses plant in Kisumu. “Mr Odinga was mentioned in the Ndung’u Report over the ownership of the controversial molasses plant. We want the anti-corruption agency to investigate him over the matter.

“It is only then that he can prove that he is committed to the fight against corruption instead of pointing fingers and fighting the DP,” said Mr Chepkonga, who is also the chairman of the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee in the National Assembly.

“What Mr Odinga is doing is running around the country portraying Jubilee as corrupt ahead of US President Barrack Obama’s visit. But we want to put it on record that it is not a crime for the Deputy President to have property anywhere in this country,” said Mr Bett.

Mr Kibet claimed that all Jubilee leaders would protect the Deputy President from those praying for his downfall.

“There are so many people out there like the former Prime Minister who still do not believe that Mr Ruto is the Deputy President of Kenya.

“We shall all protect him come rain, come sunshine, because he was overwhelmingly voted by Kenyans alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta in the last elections,” he said.

Mr Ruto only recently admitted that he owns a stake in the hotel, yet the matter first came to the limelight in January after a property adjacent to the hotel was fenced off, denying pupils at Lang’ata Road Primary School a playground. The pupils were later tear-gassed during a demonstration to reclaim the playground.