Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader Rigathi Gachagua on Friday dismissed President William Ruto's State of the Nation address, saying it was empty talk.
“You heard Ruto yesterday lie to the nation on how he is taking us to Singapore. Yet, he is taking us on reverse gear beyond 1963, deep into colonialism with brutality, disease, poverty and illiteracy. By the time he is seeking re-election, we will be in Somalia," Mr Gachagua said during an interview with Mwendani TV and radio stations.
He went on: "It is laughable that President Ruto has the audacity to promise Kenyans that he is the one to take Kenya to the league of first-world countries".
Mr Gachagua said President Ruto’s administration was dogged by corruption, human rights violations, and impunity.
In his State of the Nation address, President Ruto laid out his grand dream to ‘Singapore and other Asian tigers’ in what he says will get Kenya to the first world status, but for which he says the country should invest Sh5 trillion to fund and actualise.
The four areas are increased access to education, turning around the economy from a net importer to a net exporter, generation of additional electricity and the dualling of at least 28,000km of roads in the next 10 years in a plan that also maps out highways across Kenya.
But for Mr Gachagua, what President Ruto needed to announce in his address was to phase out the Housing Levy — which takes 1.5 per cent of gross salaries of salaried workers — and make refunds to all payslip holders.
“Unless what you have in mind is Somalia, you cannot take us to Singapore which has average monthly take-home income of Sh700, 000 and where ours is Sh70,000 that ends up being taxed at 50 per cent,” said Mr Gachagua.
"President Uhuru Kenyatta came in and unveiled the Big Four Agenda for the country that sought to accelerate the road to Vision 2030. President Ruto comes in, phases out most components of Vision 2030 and Big Four Agenda, re-launches his duplicated formats of the same to create avenues of budgeted corruption, disorganises our politics through brutal crackdown on dissenters so as to capture the nation properly and launches the culture of handouts and tokenism to hoodwink us as the big boys steal big time," Mr Gachagua said.
He said the Hustler Fund that president Ruto said had disbursed over Sh80 billion to seven million Kenyans, helping repair credit scores, was fiction "given the miserable amounts an individual qualifies for and the heavy defaults that amplify the poverty levels among hustlers".
Mr Gachagua said the Social Health Authority (SHA) was a monumental fraud benefiting a few cronies closer to power as the 27 million Kenyans registered remaining unsure of what is its relevance and sustainability.
"A health insurance fund that is capitalising on budgeted corruption and not paying debts is misery, not a service," Mr Gachagua said.
Mr Gachagua wanted the president to come clear on how the 76,000 teachers he said have been hired was executed.
"Some of the president's sycophants were reckless enough to publicly reveal how employment letters were being dished out to loyal elected leaders at State House. A just country does its thing in. Transparent manner. That is not how Singapore was built," he said.
The president claim that he plans to dual 2,500 kilometres of highways and tarmac 28,000 km over 10 years, expand the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Naivasha to Kisumu and later to Malaba also attracted criticism from Mr Gachagua.
"Where will you get funds from if the little we raise through brutal taxation regime is being packed in sacks to go to useless empowerment programmes and bribery of voters in by election zones?" the former DP said.
He went on: "In Mbeere North women are still fetching water from wells and you are giving them handouts so as to vote for your candidate. Is that the road to Singapore?"
He said the country urgently needs clean and predictable institutions, fiscal honesty and treating all citizens equally. Mr Gachagua alleged that he was being courted by President Ruto’s men.
"President Ruto is sending emissaries to me. But sorry, you divorced me when I was poor and weak. I became rich and powerful. Mr Ruto, sorry, I'm not your type. Even the children we had together called Mt Kenya do not know you. Pursue happiness in the decisions you made,” he said.
