When Deputy President William Ruto said yesterday that he was a spectator in the scandals that have rocked the ministry of health currently, yes that might be true but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is as holy as Thao.
In the past, the Deputy President has been allegedly been involved in various scandals that have rocked the country.
The self-proclaimed hustler has tod his story how he came from rags to riches and has even gained popularity by playing the cards of his humble and religious background.
The country’s second in command is now eye for the top seat on the land – Presidency. He, however, has a trail of ghosts and skeletons in his closet that might make you wonder if he is really good for the top job.
Dr. William Ruto has been named in many scandals over the years. People also claim he is corrupt and garnered his wealth through dubious ways.
Perhaps the most outstanding skeleton in his closet is the ICC case. Until now, I refuse to acquit him of any crime and term the cases against him a mistrial. This was because of the extensive witness interference and lack of government cooperation with the International Court.
Below are some of the scandals that William Ruto have been involved in;
The Jet Scandal
The scandal happened in May 2013 just a month after the Jubilee administration came to power.
The Deputy President allegedly hired a private just at a cost of Ksh 100 million for his ‘shuttled diplomacy’ in West Africa. His trip was to lobby West African nations to back their cause at the ICC.
The trip cost taxpayers about Sh21 million for his transportation and accommodation. This amount did not include the allowances paid to the 14 people that accompanied him.
The National Accounts Committee (PAC) investigated the issue and found out that the government breached procurement regulations and procedures in the process of hiring the craft.
The PAC report also criticized President Kenyatta for giving verbal rather than written directives to his deputy.
“The President instructed the Deputy President to undertake the tour verbally, contrary to article 135 of the constitution, which requires the President to convey his decision on the performance of his functions in writing,” the PAC report read.
The PAC cleared the Deputy President of any crime but recommended several officials in his office to face prosecution. However, the National Assembly later threw out the report and no one took the responsibility for the irregularity committed.
MOI TEACHING AND REFERRAL HOSPITAL (MTRH) SCANDAL
Nairobi businessman Hebert Ojwang linked Ruto to a controversial Ksh 28 billion deal. Ojwang said the deal was to establish a new referral hospital in Eldoret.
Ojwang further claimed that he proposed an idea to upgrade the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital but he alleged that Ruto issued instructions to build a new hospital at a new site instead.
When Ojwang’ appeared before the Public Investment Committee (PIC) he said Ruto was behind the push to abandon the refurbishment of the facility for a completely new hospital that would cost an additional Ksh11 billion. The cost would increase from an initial cost of refurbishing MTRH at KES 17 billion. Ojwang said the deal would fleece the taxpayer.
Ojwang even produced an audiotape of a meeting he allegedly had with Ruto at his Karen home. The audio file alleged that Ruto gave instructions that the project to fasten the completion by the end of that financial year.
The PIC then asked the Auditor General to conduct a forensic audit on all the transactions that occurred in the scandal.
William Ruto, in his defense, said the halted the deal since those who were involved did not follow the due process.
The Maize ScandalÂ
The scandal broke out in 2009. At the time, William Ruto was the Minister for Agriculture in the Grand Coalition government.
From the audit by the PricewaterhouseCooper, it was established that Ruto used his personal assistant to write a letter instructing the National Cereal and Produce Board to allocate an individual 1,000 bags.
Ruto survived the impeachment motion after Speaker Otiato rejected the documents presented before the Assembly linking him to the scandal. Ruto linked his political opponent for linking him to the maize scandal.
In an interesting twist, WikiLeaks later claimed that ODM leader Raila Odinga was the mastermind of the scandal. It stated that Raila attempted to suspend Ruto from the Ministry to divert attention from his family’s hand in the Ksh2 billion maize fraud.
Kenya Pipeline Land Scam
Together with four other peoples, William Ruto faced fraud charges in court. The charges involved the alleged sale of a piece of land in the Ngong forest to Kenya Pipeline Company Ltd for a price of around sh272 million.
The accusers claimed that Ruto and his co- acquired and sold the land illegally.
“Back then, I was a member of the backbench in the Parliaments when we raised issued of integrity against Ruto, as he was facing a fraud case regarding Ngong forest land. He had taken cash from Kenya Pipeline in exchange for that land,” Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua said as reported Afrocave.
As a minster then, William Ruto allegedly received Ksh 96 million at various intervals during the alleged transaction of the land. The allegations made Kibaki and Raila suspend him from the cabinet in 2011.
However, the court later cleared and his cohorts after a key witness failed to testify in court.
- Matiang’i tells William Ruto to resign
- Mutahi Ngunyi spits on William Ruto’s offer
- Raila Odinga puts William Ruto in his place
- Kalonzo Musyoka calls for William Ruto’s resignation
Langata Primary School Land Grab
The DP’s name was profound in the scandal. Some ‘unknown’ developers tried to grab the Lang’ata Primary School playground in 2015.
At first, Ruto denied owning Weston Hotel which wanted to convert the playground to a parking lot.
The grabber attempted to demolish the perimeter wall built around the playground.
To protest the land grabbing attempt pupils took to the street to demonstrate the attempted grab.
in response to the demonstrations, police responded ruthlessly and tear-gassed schoolchildren. This led to public outcry both locally and around the world on how the police handled the protests.
