State House Responds After Allegations of 'Fake Boda Bodas' at Ruto's Event

State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed has dismissed the assertion that youth in Nairobi were shortchanged in President William Ruto's empowerment programme last Saturday, August 9.

The president assembled thousands of young people at the grounds of State House, Nairobi, where he handed them wares to start their income-generating ventures.

Ruto paraded water tanks, motorcycles, catering equipment, sewing machines, hawking trolleys, and event organising materials, among other things.

Claims would later emerge that the materials were not given to the targets.

A Nairobi youth claimed he was denied a motorcycle despite being promised it at the event.

He would later claim that he had received threats from powers that be for revealing that he was shortchanged.

Hussein dismissed the allegations through a statement sent on X.

He said that all the 11,000 youth who gathered at the state grounds left with a thing or two, as the president had envisioned.

Hussein explained that the youth divided themselves into 1,100 groups to benefit from the programme.

"A total of 1,100 registered groups from Nairobi submitted proposals for their empowerment programmes or projects, all approved, all funded, all received. Each group had 10 members with a chairperson who delivered the projects for an orderly process. That’s 11,000 people in total," he said.

His explanation suggested that the wares were being distributed per group of ten people as opposed to per capita.

He dismissed the reportage by a local media house, which had quoted two sources that claimed the president did not live up to his promise after the event.

"Two voices outweigh 11,000 recipients, and that equals 'unfulfilled promises.” Unbelievable! But here’s the silver lining: 11,000 more people now know exactly how the media can twist a story, and just how “truthful” they really are, deliberately or otherwise," Hussein said.

Besides the wares, the president promised the youth across the country more empowerment to help them level up fiscally.

The president promised KSh 50,000 for each group of seventy youth in every ward.

The groups would utilise the capital to kickstart their self-employment ventures.

This was Ruto's first involvement in empowerment programmes in many months.

His deputy, Kithure Kindiki, had steered the programme; he traversed the country with Kenya Kwana leaders to help small-scale enterprises.