Kiraitu dismisses Raila, Ruto plans on economy

Governor Kiraitu Murungi has dismissed the economic policies ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Roto are advocating, saying, they won’t solve the problems Kenyans are facing.

He criticised Mr Odinga for promising to dish out Sh6,000 to poor families, saying, while it was not clear where the money would come from, it would not get those targeted out of their economic challenges.

Speaking as he drummed up support for his Devolution Empowerment Party (DEP) in Meru and Embu counties, Mr Murungi said Kenyans were not interested in economic models such as the DP’s bottom-up approach.

The vulnerable

The Meru governor proposed more cash for the counties “and everything else will fall into place”.

“The problem with politicians is that they give promises they know can’t be fulfilled. Jubilee promised laptops for children and stadiums. Where are they?” Mr Murungi said in Meru.

“If counties could be allocated 40 per cent of national revenue, we wouldn’t need the Sh6,000 being promised. County governments would come up with programmes to empower the vulnerable” he said.

Speaking in Embu on Saturday, Mr Murungi maintained that DEP would not merge with any political outfit but would choose the presidential candidate it will back “at the right time”.

The governor said he was focusing on building the party at the grassroots level at the moment.

He explained that he came up with DEP to negotiate for a share of the national cake and lamented that the region has been given a raw deal for decades because it lacked a political party of its own to lobby for equitable allocation of resources.

“I can’t go begging Raila that we should partner. Why should I? In any case I was his lawyer when he was detained by former President Daniel Moi and, perhaps, were it not for my legal services, he could have died in jail. We should build our political base and those people will come to us,” he said.

During the Embu and Meru meetings, the governor, who was accompanied by DEP national chairman, former Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti, confirmed appointment of interim party officials.

The more than 1,000 officials are county, sub-county and ward representatives from Embu, Tharaka Nithi, Meru and Isiolo. They include women, youth and people living with disabilities.

Also present were his deputy Titus Ntuchiu, Secretary-General Mugambi Imanyara and Meru County Assembly Majority Leader Victor Karithi, among others.

Mr Kivuti, who plans to vie for the Embu governor seat, said nobody would coerce them into folding the outfit and join big parties.

“Soon we will negotiate with the presidential candidate who will take care of our interests and get a good bride price,” Mr Kivuti said.

Mr Murungi exuded confidence that Mr Kivuti would win the Embu gubernatorial race.

“We shall use all means at our disposal to ensure Mr Kivuti takes over the Embu county’s top leadership,” he said.