Deputy President and Kwanza alliance presidential aspirant, William Ruto yesterday, trashed the fresh electoral demands made by his strongest opponent and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition flagbearer Raila Odinga.
Ruto claimed that Odinga was nursing sinister plans to derail the August 9 elections.
The Kenya Kwanza Alliance flagbearer said this while addressing his supporters in Turkana County, adding that Odinga was mounting unnecessary pressure on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) so that he could effectively execute his plans to manipulate elections.
“You can’t derail this election; you cannot select who will be in charge of IEBC because you have said that there won’t be elections without a manual register.
“He (Odinga) has no right, capacity and ability to destroy IEBC, a constitutional body. IEBC is an independent body. It cannot take instructions from any of us acting as an umpire in the political arena,” Ruto said.
Ruto went on to pledge his allegiance to working hard if elected into office, to ensure that crucial needs of the people are addressed, such as prices of food items, insecurity, bad roads, water, power supply, amongst others.
“The Kenya Kwanza Alliance government will open up Turkana County through construction of more roads and completion of the ones that have stalled. To connect more people to electricity, we will invest in off-grid power installation to connect more villages to power.
“We will reduce the standard of living, especially for basic goods like maize flour. Before the handshake between President (Uhuru) Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, a packet of flour was Sh90, but it’s now about Sh200.
“We will discuss a workable plan to tackle banditry once and for all because it is your constitutional right to security, not a favour, to ensure lives and property are protected because you pay taxes like any other citizen.
“Security at the border is not negotiable. We will establish military camps to ensure border residents and their livestock are protected from attacks from Ethiopia and South Sudan,” said Dr Ruto.
“We will recruit national police reservists who live together with locals to ensure that they provide the first line of defence.
“We will get adequate water to ensure the livestock don’t die during cycles of drought. We will exploit underground water in asal regions to tackle hunger and starvation.
Ruto added that his government will invest in climate-smart agriculture to tackle poverty and access to food by citizens of the country.