Ruto Claps Back at Sifuna's Warning to Kenyans About 'Glittering' Projects

On Saturday, September 5, President William Ruto slammed Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, who warned Kenyans not to be deceived by 'glittering' projects, yet key critical issues remain unresolved.

Speaking in Ngong, Ruto stated that the main prerogative of the government is to build the nation. He further accused Sifuna of undermining development.

He argued that the people need roads, markets and affordable housing units to be built, and to be connected to the national electricity grid.

"I hear the people from 'Linda Sponsor' calling roads, markets and electricity connectivity glittering projects. I am asking them to look for an agenda and spare us from their insults and slogans," Ruto stated.

The President reiterated that Linda Mwananchi had no capacity to understand anything about leading a country, because they were nothing more than stooges of their sponsor.

"The problem with agreeing and submitting yourselves to be puppets of your sponsor is that you have no mind of your own. You cannot think straight. It does not matter how much English you speak or how much school you have attended. You cannot speak anything meaningful," he stated.

His sentiments came after Sifuna warned Kenyans against being enticed by huge development projects like stadia and affordable housing, yet key issues like human rights violations, security and constitutionalism were sidelined.

"We want to ask Kenyans: don't be deceived by those shiny things like railways and stadiums. We need to put in place a government that will put the safety and wellbeing o Kenyans ahead of everything else," he stated. 

The President defended his directive to have the Amboseli National Park under the management of the Kajiado County Government. He told those who moved to court to challenge his directive that the court would rule in his favour, just as it did with the SHA matter.

Ruto doubled down on his declaration to suspend Tata Mineral's licence in Magadi. He argued that the contract they had was exploitative.

The Head of State revealed that the government will re-advertise new mining tenders. He added that this time, no single company will have a monopoly over the resources, and that the new contracts will require firms to set up value addition factories locally.

"The exploitative and extractive contract that has been there for the last 100 years cannot continue anymore. We are going to advertise afresh so that other companies can apply because the resource we have in Magadi is big enough to sustain more than one company.

"We will make sure that this time round, the contract is going to be firm, of making sure that the value addition of our resources in Magadi is not going to be done abroad. Glass and chemical factories will be done here in Kenya.

Ruto made the statement amid uproar over his declaration to close down the soda ash mining company.