Deputy President William Ruto last night went into the televised presidential debate with guns blazing against his main rival, Azimio flagbearer Raila Odinga, hogging 90 minutes of the limelight on all of Kenya’s broadcast stations.
This is after Mr Odinga, who enjoyed a similar platform in 2017 after his then opponent, now his biggest supporter, President Uhuru Kenyatta, pulled out of the debate.
Yesterday, Mr Odinga said he could not share a podium with the DP, whom he said had integrity issues.
“Our opponents have been taunting us that we are cowards and are not ready for the election. We cannot debate with him. When the government fights corruption, he has been saying it is weaponising the war on corruption. The only place I can meet him is at the ballot,” Mr Odinga said.
The DP, for his part, seized the opportunity to expound on his Kenya Kwanza manifesto after Mr Odinga made good his threat, conveyed through his allies, that he would not attend the event.
Viewership in parts of the country was, however, marred by a power blackout that lasted a few minutes.
Power outages were reported in parts of Kericho, Moiben, Kitale, Kiambu, Baringo, West Pokot, Nakuru, Kakamega and Eldoret.
‘Mama Mboga moment’
Accompanied by his seconders during his nomination as a presidential candidate—Pauline Waithera, a mama mboga (green grocer), and Kelvins Okoth, a boda-boda rider—the DP kicked off the debate by declaring that the August poll “is a mama mboga moment” and that he had the best plan to ensure the success of small and medium enterprises.
UDA Party presidential candidate and Deputy President William Ruto when he arrived at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa for the Presidential Debate on July 26, 2022.
“We have five million young people not working and 15 million Kenyans blacklisted by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB). I believe I am the candidate with a plan to take Kenya to the next level,” said Dr Ruto.
Dr Ruto blamed the truce between President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga for the failure of the Jubilee government to deliver on its election promises during the second term in office.
He said the Big Four programmes of manufacturing, health care, affordable housing and food security were derailed by the deal struck between the two leaders in March 2018.
He said President Kenyatta told him he wanted to govern differently and with a different team, alluding to the opposition leader.
“I tried to support my boss. Many times my boss said he wanted to do things differently. He said he wanted to assemble a different group of people to deliver his legacy. Unfortunately, the Big Four failed,” Dr Ruto said.
“The whole plan went with the handshake and BBI. We didn’t get the time to do what we promised Kenyans.”
Food security
The DP blamed the high cost of living on runaway food prices caused by agriculture policies that disadvantaged farmers and discouraged farming.
Ruto pledged that if elected president, he would ensure his administration invested Sh30 billion in a revolving fund to help farmers access agricultural inputs and a further Sh12 billion to support farmers with agricultural extensions.
With access to fertiliser and certified seeds farmers can double their production, he added.
“Dealing with the cost of food deals significantly with the high cost of living,” Dr Ruto said, explaining that the average household spent 52 per cent of its income on food.
“There is no reason to spend Sh12 billion to import maize from neighbouring countries; we should be net exporters,” he noted.
Pressed about the fertiliser scandal and the collapse of the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project that rocked the Jubilee government, Dr Ruto cited sabotage.
Challenged on imposition of eight per cent VAT on fuel products that he supported as part of Jubilee, Dr Ruto explained that “we live in a dynamic world and only fools don’t change their minds.”
“Looking at the situation where we are, and the rising cost of living, it takes a courageous government to sit down with our development partners, who are reasonable people and renegotiate the loans,” Dr Ruto said.
Debt crisis
On Kenya’s debt, now close to Sh9 trillion, Dr Ruto said the country will renegotiate with development partners, saying, however, that it would be reckless to stop paying the debt.
“We should stop the borrowing spree. In the first term, we borrowed Sh2 trillion. In the second term, we borrowed Sh4 trillion. It is a source of concern, more so the trajectory of continued borrowing. Our administration will slow down on borrowing, remove unbudgeted projects which are the source of these problems, as well as raise revenues in key areas,” said the DP.
He added: “Unbudgeted projects are in the region of Sh100 billion. There are too many projects that have been done without a budget line. If you look at the contingency plan, sometimes it goes to 50 per cent on the budget. That is where we need to slam the brakes on borrowing.”
Dr Ruto fielded questions on corruption, governance and what his administration portends.
He was also hard pressed to explain why he could not deliver in the current Jubilee administration, in which he is the second in command.
The DP took to the stage in the second debate, where he would have faced off with Mr Odinga.
UDA Party presidential candidate and Deputy President William Ruto when he arrived at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa for the Presidential Debate on July 26, 2022.
The two had been placed in the second tier after the three most recent opinion polls gave them a popularity rating of above five per cent.
Wajackoyah no-show
Agano presidential candidate David Waihiga Mwaure also appeared solo in the first tier of the debate after his Roots Party counterpart George Waluchiri Wajackoyah also avoided the debate, citing unfair treatment by the media.
Prof Wajackoya, who appeared briefly at the venue of the debate, reportedly left in a huff when it became clear that all the presidential candidates would not face the moderating panel at the same time.
In a statement issued earlier by his party’s spokesperson, Wilson Muirani, Prof Wajackoyah noted that the debate had already been “predetermined.”
“The media cannot decide the outcome of an election before the polling day. The notion that some candidates are trailing others or some leading others is baseless. We refuse to be counted as ‘others’ in this important democratic duty of seeking the presidency,” reads the statement.
Dr Ruto was taken to task for the grand plans in his manifesto and how his administration would generate the billions needed to finance them amid financial challenges facing the country.
Kenya has been incurring debts at an average rate of Sh2.5 billion per day while spending Sh2.4 billion daily on repayments since July last year, according to documents from the National Treasury and the office of the Controller of Budget (CoB).
Whereas the country has been borrowing an average of Sh77 billion monthly in the current financial year, the government spent an average of Sh72.4 billion monthly to service debts.
This means that for each Sh1 borrowed since July, an equivalent of Sh0.92 was paid back to creditors.
By the end of April this year, Kenya’s public debt stood at Sh8.47 trillion, a Sh773.75 billion increase from Sh7.69 trillion by the end of June 2021, latest data from the Treasury show.
In his manifesto, Dr Ruto has promised to invest Sh500 billion in smallholder agriculture and the informal sector over the next five years as part of his ‘bottom-up’ economic model.
He has also pledged that in the first 100 days of his administration, he would commission a review of the salaries of all officers in the security sector to align them with the cost of living.
To address food insecurity, the Kenya Kwanza coalition has promised to channel Sh250 billion into the agriculture sector through farmers’ organisations.
To revamp the small and micro enterprises sector, Dr Ruto has promised to inject Sh50 billion annually into providing access to affordable credit through Saccos, venture capital, equity funds and long-term debt for start-ups and growth-oriented SMEs.
A Kenya Kwanza government would also implement a Sh200 billion fully financed primary healthcare programme that would allow patients to choose whether to seek medical care from the public, faith-based or private providers based on a regulated tariff.
‘Consequences’
Murang’a senator Irungu Kang’ata said voters would discipline Mr Odinga for skipping the debate.
“Empirical research suggests voters do punish persons that skip debates. Therefore, Raila will definitely lose votes. It will be like a court case when a party refuses to file a defence. The other side gets judgment on default of appearance,” Dr Kang’ata said.
He noted that though President Kenyatta avoided the debate in 2017 and won, the “gap would have been wider” had he attended.
“The 2017 election was a tribal census. This election has some economic issues underpinning the debate. Remember the biggest voting bloc does not have a candidate and it needs to be swayed,” said Dr Kang’ata. BY DAILY NATION