The two national leaders have been on each other’s throats in the recent days in a cold war that has even sucked in their foot soldiers.
William Ruto and Raila Odinga who both served in the grand coalition government were accused of condoning corruption and theft.
The war of words pitting Deputy William Ruto and his former political ally now turned foe Raila Odinga seems to be far from over after the two leaders clashed once again over the war on corruption.
The two national leaders have been on each other’s throats in the recent days in a cold war that has even sucked in their foot soldiers.
Ruto has challenged the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader to mention names of the persons and company representatives implicated in the KSh 7.8 billion Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) heist.
Speaking on Tuesday, July 13, Ruto took a jibe at Raila on what he termed as the former premier’s defense of suspects behind the KEMSA scandal.
”A thief defending another thief who has been implicated in the KEMSA scandal says he will arrest all the corrupt people in this country is doublespeak. Let him (Raila) give us names of all those behind the COVID-19 millionaires and stop defending them,” Ruto said.
Raila recently said that he would arrest and jail all corrupt officials under the current Jubilee government should he assume power in 2022.
”I long for the day that we shall fight the war on corruption without politics whereby a thief is investigated like a thief and not on the grounds of bias. We should not investigate someone because of his ties with someone else,” Ruto explained.
At the same time, he raised concern that anyone who visits him at home is branded corrupt.
”Today, people know clearly that if you are a friend of the deputy president or even if you even visit him, then expect the DCI at your doorsteps. So it is not that you have stolen anything but because they have been sighted at my home,” Ruto said.
He alleged that some political leaders are afraid to meet him in public for fear of getting arrested.
”The problem is that all those I compete with don’t have an agenda for Kenyans. Because of this, they are trying to frustrate the good agenda of their opponents by using corruption as a scapegoat,” he added.
It should not go without saying that Ruto said Raila’s tenure in the grand coalition government was characterised by corruption and theft.