Rigathi Gachagua has accused President William Ruto of leaving Bomet without a major national government project to showcase, while questioning the President’s emotional reaction after meeting a crying young girl during his visit to the county.
The Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) leader said Ruto’s tour of Bomet and Kericho had instead highlighted growing dissatisfaction among residents over what he described as unfulfilled promises by the national government.
In a statement on Thursday, Gachagua claimed the President had travelled to the region to respond to public discontent after receiving votes from residents who expected development from his administration.
“Mr. William Ruto visited Bomet County yesterday to quell the public dissatisfaction that his lying and brutal regime had nothing for the residents and that he obtained their votes by false pretenses. His callous visit confirmed their case against him,” Gachagua said.
He said the President could not point to a new national government project that he had launched, commissioned or inspected during the Bomet tour.
“The national government has done nothing for the people of Bomet County; just false promises. There was not a single new national government project he could launch, commission, or inspect.”
Gachagua then turned his attention to an emotional episode that occurred during Ruto’s visit after the President encountered a young girl who was crying as she performed a poem for him.
A video of the encounter circulated widely, showing the girl delivering her poem while in tears before Ruto also became emotional. The President was seen wiping his tears and those of the girl with a handkerchief as the crowd cheered.
But Gachagua questioned why Ruto would become emotional over the girl’s situation, arguing that the hardships affecting her family were linked to the government he leads.
“He only shed tears about a young girl crying over the hardships her mother is facing. But who has deliberately caused these troubles and pain? Who has caused the tears on the young girl? Isn't it Mr. William Ruto?” Gachagua posed.
He dismissed the President’s emotional display as pretence and warned that such moments would not persuade Kenyans to support Ruto politically.
“So why was he crying pretentiously? Such tears will no longer move Kenyans into voting for the wrong person! Fix the country, Mr. William Ruto!”
The former Deputy President also accused Ruto of relying on county government projects to demonstrate development during his Bomet visit.
“To show a semblance of some development, he could only visit projects by the County Government, namely the County Assembly of Bomet and the Mother and Child Hospital, both projects of the county,” he said.
Gachagua also raised questions over the fate of Economic Charters signed between the national government and counties, including Bomet and Kericho.
He claimed the agreements had remained unimplemented and argued that there was limited time for them to be delivered before the end of Ruto’s presidency.
“The Economic Charters signed between him and the counties of Kericho and Bomet, like the rest of the counties, are gathering dust at the UDA headquarters and cannot be implemented in the remaining 11 months of his presidency,” he said.
Despite his criticism of the President’s development record, Gachagua acknowledged that residents of Bomet and Kericho received what he described as millions of handouts during Ruto’s tour.
He said the money was used to mobilise crowds to attend the President’s meetings, but claimed residents had not received value for their political support.
“Nevertheless, the residents of Bomet and Kericho benefited from the millions of handouts unleashed to mobilize crowds to attend his meetings. However, by Olkalou standards, they were outright shortchanged,” he said.