Dams scrapped to punish me – Ruto

DP William Ruto was on Tuesday put on the spot over the failures of the Jubilee administration, including the failed implementation of the multibillion-shilling Galana Kulalu irrigation project.

The DP faced tough questions on the high cost of living and his support for the eight per cent VAT on fuel that he supported during Jubilee's first term. 

His reference to Supreme Court Judges as "crooks" after the nullification of the presidential election also came back to haunt him. 

The DP was hard pressed to explain why the project failed and the controversies that surrounded its contracting.

Ruto was also put to task over the Arror and Kimwarer dams and why the projects were not completed while he served as DP despite billions of shillings having been paid out.

He defended himself, saying the Arror and Kimwarer contracts were signed at the same time as other government projects and were signed "not by me but by the President of Kenya”.

Ruto said the Kimwarer and Arror dams were meant to fail to frustrate him.

He added that despite the two dam projects being signed at the same time with others, same company and funded by the same financiers but were still cancelled.

"All these were signed not with me by me but witnessed by the President of Kenya. These were not projects that were cooked at night or in some dark corner. How come the only projects that didn't go through were Kimwarer and Arror?" Ruto said. 

In February 2019, the DP denied claims that Sh21 billion was lost in the Arror and Kimwarer multipurpose dam projects in Elgeyo Marakwet, saying only Sh7 billion was in question.

Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and his co-accused were charged over the dams scandal where the country allegedly lost Sh21 billion paid to an Italian firm for work not done.

His rival Raila Odinga of the Azimio la Umoja has on numerous occasions accused Ruto and his allies of halting the construction of the multi-billion shilling dams.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has also apportioned blame to the DP in his recent remarks.

Ruto added that the contractor was denied land to set up the dam despite the fact there being a commitment the government would provide land.

“Kenyans will one day marvel at what really happened at this Kimwarer dam. The company that provided insurance was well connected,” he said.

Insisting that the case in court is being dragged for political reason, the DP said there is a conspiracy to install a government that will inherit the mess.

“How did the government lose sh20 billion shillings and yet there was nothing on the ground. I don't believe money was lost and if there was, then people should be taken to court,” he said.

There was also the issue of Galana Kulalu which was launched during the Jubilee Party's first term.

“What happened? What went wrong? Why did it fail?” moderator Eric Latif said.

Ruto said the project failed prematurely despite a successful pilot on some 10,000 acres after the government failed to construct a dam to supply water to the one million acres that had been targeted.

“The research and the trials showed that the soils could actually support the production of maize and other cereals. Unfortunately, it didn’t move from there because we didn’t get the dam sorted,” he said.

The DP was speaking to the emotive subject of the high cost of living saw 2kg of maize flour shoot to Sh230. The government subsidised the price to Sh100.

But the commentators pushed him to explain why the government failed to construct the dam yet the project was meant to ensure food security in the country.

Ruto said the Jubilee administration had made the dam and the actualisation of the project as part of its deliverables under the food security component of the Big Four Agenda.

The DP, however, said the plan was sabotaged with the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM chief Raila Odinga.

However, moderator Yvonne Okwara pressed the DP to the controversies that shrouded the projects at the contacting stage.

“The auditor general conducted a report and cited weaknesses in the contracting of it. First, it was single sourcing and even the manner in which the contract itself was done in terms of payments that were tied to the contractor,” Okwara said.

The DP admitted that the Galana Kulalu project contract had issues but added that it was for the same reason why the project was called off.

The UDA presidential candidate added that the dam was among the 57 projects the Jubilee administration had planned to do but did not actualise.

Ruto blamed the high cost of living on the handshake, saying the focus shifted to the BBI and handshake at the expense of the Big Four.

He also accused the government of lifting its support for farmers, especially fertiliser subsidy leading high cost of production.

The DP also detailed his Kenya Kwanza plan to deal with the ballooning public debt.

The second in command said he will employ a multipronged approach, including slowing on borrowing, remove unbudgeted projects and increase revenue collection.

The approach, he said, will ensure the country comfortably services its loan obligations.

“Our administration will first slow down on borrowing, remove unbudgeted projects and go back to raising our revenue,” Ruto said.

Currently, the public debt has hit Sh8.4 trilling, a figure the UDA presidential candidate said must be brought down if Kenya is to make any progress.

“I believe we have what it takes to pay our debts.  We have a plan as Kenya Kwanza on how to manage our debt,” the UDA presidential candidate said.

“Our national debt is a challenge, we need to deal with it, and we are living beyond our means. We should stop this borrowing spree.”

In passing the blame to President Kenyatta and his handshake partner Raila, the DP claimed the period following the March 2018 truce has seen the country borrow Sh4.4 trillion, double the amount the Jubilee administration borrowed in its first term.

It is, however, known that Raila has no official role in government.

Unbudgeted projects is another area Ruto said he will revisit to save Sh100 billion taxpayers money being gobbled up but are not anywhere in the budget books.

In a veiled attack at his boss, the DP listed the newly redeveloped Uhuru Gardens National Monument and Museum as top on the list of unbudgeted projects.

The project at the heart of President Kenyatta — according to Ruto — has consumed Sh15 billion of taxpayers’ money despite not being factored in the budget.

The facility houses historical and cultural artefacts, memorabilia and audio-visual stories from the events that birthed and shaped the nation’s destiny.

During the solo debate Ruto claimed that Uhuru's administration has deliberately refused to release the contracts, including that of the Standard Gauge Railway.

However, when asked why as the Deputy President he has not disclosed that, he said his mandate is limited with all the powers entrusted with the President.

“I have given my advice to my boss, including that particular issue (of SGR), enumerating the position that it is the constitutional provision that those contracts be made public but you know the buck stops with the boss,” Ruto said.

He went on: “It is not a matter that I would have wanted to take into the public for purposes of making the government functional.”

The DP was confronted with questions on failures by the Jubilee government to address insecurity challenges in the North Rift and parts of North Eastern.

Ruto said the security lapse came in after the handshake when all police reservists were withdrawn by the government over fears they would be his militia.

“When we came to the handshake arrangement, a false narrative was rolled out that all the police reservists in Pokot and Baringo were a militia Ruto would use and all the reservists were withdrawn,” he said.

The DP said the withdrawal was done politically to punish him.

“I have spent and deployed my personal resources to take those people to hospital and bury others just because I was to be punished,” he said.

The DP further said in the first term he traversed the Kerio Valley and parts of North Rift to identify police reservists that restored order in those regions.

“After the 2013 election, I held a meeting with all elected leaders from those regions and we went around and mobilised governors and provided police reservists in those areas and the situation was under control,” he said.

The DP said the lasting solution to the Kerio Valley menace would be to provide water, roads infrastructure and schools to develop the region.

“Opening up that area is the solution needed, unfortunately, there are people who don't see it that way,” the UDA presidential candidate said. 

"We even went forward to provide armoured vehicles but that plan was frustrated.”

(edited by Amol Awuor)