By The Weekly Vision Correspondent
President William Ruto is increasingly coming under pressure to drop his dismissal of Opposition leaders as people who have no agenda, vision or brains to deliver for Kenyans. During his tour of Ukambani, Makueni MP Susan Kiamba told the President to his face that it is wrong to label Opposition leaders as useless even as he champions projects and programmes his administration is implementing.
“All of us were created in God’s image; there is no one who was born special. This Susan you are seeing here has a Master’s degree. So when we are politicking, let us do so with respect,” she said.
However, Ruto deflected the criticism, stating that it is the people who have made that judgment, and went on to ask the crowd whether his opponents have brains, to which they replied in the negative. Kathiani MP Robert Mbui also took issue with the President for showing disrespect towards local leaders during his visit to the region.“William went to Ukambani and insulted the leaders from that area. He said they have no brains,” Mbui stated during a morning TV talk show on Friday, 14 November. Ruto has in the past declared that he is the President who can deliver on the Kenyan dream since he holds a PhD.
In August, while addressing a delegation from the Gusii region at State House Nairobi, he said that, unlike his predecessors, he has no excuse not to deliver.“I have a PhD, I have served three terms as a Member of Parliament, and I was Deputy President for 10 years. I cannot use lack of experience or education as an excuse,” he said.“Jomo could say he was old, having become President in his seventies. Others could say they didn’t have enough education.
I have the energy, I have the skills, and I have the experience. Let me do this job so Kenya can be transformed,” the President added.At another forum, he said that he is blessed with the bravery of founding president Jomo Kenyatta, the political astuteness of Daniel Moi, Mwai Kibaki’s education and shared the same plan with Uhuru Kenyatta, making him Kenya’s best president ever.Earlier, in February, while dismissing those opposed to mass livestock vaccination, including Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, he also said they were doing so for lack of adequate education.“Na mkiona wale wanalalamika ni watu sijui wamesomea wapi.
Si mimi niko na PhD…si mimi naelewa nini inaendelea Kenya? Sasa mimi napata watu wako na elimu kidogo kidogo hapa wanajaribu kunifundisha, mnanifundisha kazi gani? (If you see those complaining, they are people who I don’t know where they were schooled.
”I have a PhD, Don’t I know what is happening in Kenya? Now I find people with little education trying to teach me, what job will you teach me about?” he posed during a tour of Garissa County. In a direct attack on Kalonzo, he said the former DP only knows about ndengu (mung beans), which are one of the main food crops in his region.
“Wewe unaenda kumsikiza mtu ya kupanda ndengu, ati anakuambia usichanje ng’ombe yako. Yeye hana ng’ombe…hiyo ni mambo ya upumbavu na wakwende kabisa (You go listening to someone who grows mung beans and he tells you not to vaccinate your livestock. Does he have cows? That is stupidity and they should keep off),” said Ruto. In a cryptic response, Kalonzo posted a photo of himself herding cows at his Yatta ranch on social media.
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