Nasa links William Ruto to Maasai Mara scam

The National Super Alliance concluded its two-day campaign in Narok on Thursday by throwing barbs at the Jubilee administration and specifically at Deputy President William Ruto.

The alliance's members, led by Orange Democratic Movement presidential candidate Raila Odinga, took issue with the management of Maasai Mara National Reserve's resources. They claimed Mr Ruto and the Narok county government had been stealing tourism proceeds in excess of Sh3 billion annually from it.

“Ruto and Governor [Samuel] Tunai have registered a company where they are collecting billions of shillings from the reserve,” Mr Odinga said at the Ngosiani market in Narok West.

LAND-RELATED SCANDALS

The claims were repeated by other Nasa leaders during the rallies they addressed at the Olchoro market in Narok North and at the Narok stadium. The Deputy President was on the receiving end, with speaker after speaker linking him to land-related scandals and corruption.

Mr Odinga was accompanied by his running mate, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka, the alliance's other co-principals Mr Musalia Mudavadi, Mr Isaac Ruto and Mr Moses Wetang’ula and other leaders from the political group.

“Hii kampuni ya Ruto na Tunai tutatoa nje. Wameunda kampuni ambayo inachukua mabilioni ya pesa kutoka Maasai Mara na wamefuta vijana wengi kazi (We shall throw out this company owned by Ruto and Tunai. The company collects billions of shillings from Maasai Mara and they have sacked many young people,” Mr Odinga claimed.

Mr Musyoka called the DP the mastermind of cartels. “William Ruto is the father of cartels who is using the NGO boss Fazul to broker deals,” he claimed.

Mr Mudavadi accused Jubilee of trying to monopolise power, arguing that President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto sought to control all the resources without being accountable. “Nasa will share resources equitably with the citizens and will devolve national resources to the grassroots,” said Mr Mudavadi.

EA CORRIDOR

He promised that a Nasa government would construct an East African corridor that will connect Narok to Homa Bay.

“The Jubilee government inflated the Standard Gauge Railway construction costs by Sh150 billion,” he said.

At the same time, he said the Uhuru Kenyatta administration had provided low generation capacity of electricity. “According to our manifesto, Nasa will increase capacity from 2,500 to 10,000 megawatts,” said Mr Odinga.

The politics of the populous Purko clan also played out during the Nasa visit after the CCM and ODM candidates for the Narok governor’s seat, Mr Patrick ole Ntutu and Mr Joseph Musuni, failed to agree on one of them stepping down in favour of the other.

Governor Ruto said Jubilee had divided Kenyans along tribal lines.