Deputy President William Ruto's wheelbarrow politics will sink the country’s youths into abject poverty, ODM leader Raila Odinga has said.
Raila said no parent wishes for handcarts and wheelbarrows for their children as a means of fighting poverty and inequality. They want better.
Addressing ODM ward representatives in Nairobi Tuesday, Raila said a lasting solution to the myriad challenges facing young Kenyans is creating and expanding opportunities for all.
“Parents fear the possibility of their children inheriting the difficulties they have gone through over the years or even worse,” Raila said.
“I am not convinced that the solutions we are proposing to address poverty and inequality in our country should be discarded and replaced with wheelbarrows.”
He said real leaders will not take the easy road of giving wheelbarrows to youths but will address growing inequality, lack of opportunities and upward mobility.
“I doubt there is an MCA in this room who genuinely believes that if each person in the ward received a wheelbarrow today, the people would get rich and they will be able to fend for themselves,” he said.
He called on the ward representatives to debate and pass the Building Bridges Initiative bill to fix economic challenges. The document promises a new economic model that focuses on value creation, industrialisation and support to small and micro-enterprises, he said.
“BBI seeks to ensure that opportunities for job creation are not confined to the cities and towns,” Raila said.
The AU Special Envoy for Infrastructure also backed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s promise to MCAs that the government will provide a Sh2 million car grant. He warned them against using that as a condition for passing BBI.
Uhuru, while meeting MCAs from 10 counties in Central Kenya, said he will ensure they get car grants like their counterparts in Parliament.
“If we can justify giving car grant to Members of Parliament why not MCAs and you are the people who are in contact with the people?” Raila asked.
Legal experts have dismissed the car grant promise as another empty political statement. They say the President does not have powers to determine perks for state officers.
During the meeting at Co-operative University in Karen, the MCAs were taken through the document by BBI drafters led by university don Adams Oloo, Ben Sihenya and co-chair of the secretariat Sarah Kilemi.
Also present were former Nyeri Woman Representative Priscilla Nyokabi, ODM executive director Oduor Ong'wen and party secretary-general Edwin Sifuna.
