Deputy President William Ruto at his office Nairobi on October 29, 2015
during an interview with Sunday Nation. PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI | NATION
MEDIA GROUP
Deputy President William Ruto has launched a robust defence of
the Jubilee administration’s record and his own personal reputation in
an interview with the Sunday Nation in which he also discussed Cord leader Raila Odinga’s offer to testify on his behalf at The Hague.
Mr
Ruto attributed the turbulence that has hit the economy primarily to
external factors including the strengthening of the dollar and said he
expected the situation would turn a corner soon.
“Our
economy does not operate in isolation from the world economy,” he said.
“The strengthening of the dollar resulted in the depreciation of other
currencies. Even the Euro, one of the world’s strongest currencies,
depreciated more than the Kenyan shilling which lost 22 per cent while
the Tanzanian shilling, for example, depreciated by about 36 per cent.”
He
added: “The Ugandan shilling lost 40 per cent, the Zambian Kwacha 45
per cent, Brazil saw a depreciation of 33 per cent and the Turkish lira
hit record lows. That is the reality. In fact, it is our management of
the economy that made the Kenyan shilling not to depreciate beyond where
it did. And with that depreciation, naturally, the Central Bank of
Kenya working with the Treasury had to make some interventions to avoid
inflation.”
INTEREST RATES TO FALL
Mr
Ruto predicted the situation would normalise soon, pointing out that
average Treasury Bill rates had fallen to 19 per cent by Friday, down
from a recent high of 26 per cent, which he said would drive lending
rates in the market down “within two months”.
The
Deputy President also addressed a broad sweep of questions about rising
anxiety and public anger over Jubilee’s handling of the economy,
corruption claims that have consistently been levelled against him, the
state of the ruling coalition and why Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru had
survived repeated calls for her removal.
Mr Ruto was
restrained in his comments on the case he faces at the International
Criminal Court due to court-imposed restrictions but he offered a
cautious welcome to Mr Odinga’s offer to testify on his behalf while
asking him to avoid playing politics with the case.
“It’s
not for me to make judgement on the sincerity of anyone,” he said. “I
think every person in Kenya who knows what happened and believes in
justice and fairness should be able to step forward with a clear
conscience and say what they know. Because all of us were in Kenya and
everybody that was in Kenya knows that William Ruto did not plan any
violence. And many of them know how the ICC matter came to be, I think
everybody who knows the truth about what happened should step forward
not because they want to help William Ruto but because they want the
truth to come out.”
JUBILEE COALITION'S FUTURE
Mr
Ruto was more expansive when questioned over the reasons why the
Jubilee coalition had survived and functioned relatively smoothly unlike
any alliance of parties attempted after the 1997, 2002 and 2007
elections.
In what may be seen as an indirect jab at Mr Odinga, who had a troubled relationship with President Mwai Kibaki, he said:
“People
are surprised that the Jubilee administration doesn’t have the
characteristics of what we have known government to be for the last 10
years. For the last 10 years we have known government to be about
divisions and quarrels. If people are not wrangling about MOUs, this one
short-changing the other one, they are arguing I was not consulted, I
didn’t get this and I didn’t get the other. That is what is seriously
absent.”
Mr Ruto said opponents had taken to trying to
will wrangles into existence: “Sometimes because infighting is so
absent people even sometimes imagine divisions because they can’t
believe that they don’t exist. They try to say ‘oh nowadays they don’t
wear the same tie, oh they were not holding hands another time’. This is
a lot of nonsense. When we decided to work together, we were very clear
as to what our mission was. The primary objective of our partnership
was to consolidate the cohesion of Kenya and to get communities as
Kenyans to work together. The issue of being elected and forming
government was secondary.”
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
The
Deputy President has found himself adversely mentioned in a succession
of controversies including allegations of land grabbing, questions over
tendering for the renovation of the Moi Referral and Teaching Hospital
and other queries relating to his wealth.
Questioned
over whether he suffered a perception crisis, he offered his standard
defence that rivals were envious of his rise from humble beginnings.
“You
see when you come from the background that I come from and that, by
God’s grace you manage to go so far, in the process, people question.
How is this possible? How did you get here? And they try to imagine all
manner of issues ... The question you ask yourself is if any of these
allegations is true, why hasn’t anybody proved one, just one of these
allegations true. Is it possible that you can make all these allegations
and you cannot prove any of them? ... I think somehow I make news.
People like me. Newspapers want to sell. I’m told these newspapers when
their sales go down they put me in the headlines and then their sales
improve. What am I supposed to do?”
Mr Ruto brushed off
questions over why officials perceived as allied to URP had been
quickly shown the door while Ms Waiguru had remained in office, saying
that there were no TNA or URP Cabinet Secretaries.
“We
will hold every public official to account for their actions and their
responsibilities in public service. We have made it abundantly clear
that that is non-negotiable. It is true that money was lost in the
National Youth Service. The person who blew the whistle over the loss of
money in NYS is the minister. It wasn’t the anti-corruption commission
like it was for everybody else. And it would be unfair to get the
whistle blower and punish her. If information will come to us or to the
investigating agencies that the minister was involved in any way in
these matters, she will face the same fate as her colleagues.”
JUBILEE'S PERFORMANCE
You
are around the mid-point of your first term in office. If you were to
give your administration a rating on a scale of one out of 10, what
would your rating be?
I would give the Jubilee administration in which I am Deputy President eight out of 10. For the following reasons.
We assembled our thoughts and processed them into a manifesto which has been guiding us.
The
major planks of our transformation agenda were premised on the fact
that we wanted ultimately to create enough jobs for the millions of
young people in Kenya.
Five things are the basis upon which we are building the framework for the creation of jobs.
One, modern infrastructure. We embarked in our first budget on the building of the standard gauge railway.
The
SGR will reduce by about 70 per cent the cost of transportation of
goods and services between Mombasa, Nairobi, Malaba and other extensions
such as Kisumu.
It will also reduce the time required for that movement by half and reduce the pressure on our roads.
We have also embarked on a programme to assess how to improve our road network.
From independence to now, we have done about 14,000km of roads.
In
our assessment, it’s possible to do another 10,000km and we have gone
through a rigorous process of looking at the standards that we use to
build roads. We found out that we were working with standards that are
as old as 1922.
Beginning December we are going to
roll out what we have been promising the country as 10,000km of roads to
be built in the next five years at half the cost that we had been
constructing roads.
We are also greatly enhancing
energy production and if you talk to any member of the private sector
they will tell you power is more reliable and tariff on power has come
down by between 25-30 per cent.
We also proposed major
changes in the security sector. We proposed to better equip the police.
For the first time we have 2,000 vehicles for the police.
We
have improved co-ordination between all the arms of government. The
army, police, NIS, CID and all agencies are now working together and
thanks to the security laws, which some misunderstood as designed to
take us backwards, we are seeing an improved security environment.
The
final plank is human transformation and apart from increased capitation
for primary and secondary schools by 35 per cent on average, we have
embarked on a major programme of improved technical education.
Not many among the public will give you eight out of 10. A lot of people are suffering due to the worsening economic picture.
There
are people with mortgages whose repayment rates have gone up by up to
six per cent. Thousands of staff in counties have not been paid. The
Treasury says there is a cash shortage.
The
government is the biggest spender in the economy and when it doesn’t
spend and doesn’t settle claims, businesses stop employing. There is a
measure of despair among the public on the economic front. What has
triggered the crisis, is it poor financial management? What will you
tell the many Kenyans that feel the economy is not working?
Well,
let’s look at the big numbers. In 2012, the economy was growing at 4.6
per cent. In 2013, the economy grew by 5.7 per cent. 2014, the rate was
5.3 per cent.
Our target this year was 6.5 per cent. We have since scaled it down to 6 per cent. And there are good reasons for this.
We
have scaled our own economic target to 6 per cent because in
Sub-Saharan Africa where we are, the average was at 4.3 per cent.
It
has since been reviewed downwards to 3.7 per cent. Even the projected
growth in Kenya of about 5.6 per cent is way above the Sub-Saharan
African average.
Let’s dissect the reason. What is going on?
The
whole scenario which you have painted and which is correct that there
is concern about what is happening to our economy and it’s good for me
to get this information out so that the public can understand, our
economy does not operate in isolation from the world economy.
Our economy is also affected by factors beyond what we are doing in Kenya.
The
US economy, which for a while has been sluggish, began to strengthen
and this has affected most world currencies ... But the country must
understand that even with that, it’s an occurrence of the last one and
half to two months.
It is not something that has been there from when we took over and I want to tell them we are on top of the situation.
We expect within the next two months Treasury Bills to go down to around 11-12 per cent and the situation will normalise.
But
what’s the causal link between the strengthening of the dollar and the
government being unable to pay its bills, submit money to the Higher
Education Loans Board, pay counties and meet other obligations?
What
really happened is that because we didn’t want to create a bigger
problem in the market, we slowed down on the usual government borrowing
to roll over the borrowing that already exists.
And we
used resources from government revenue to pay debts. In fact what has
happened, although we have a cash situation, what has happened is we
have actually reduced government debt in the process.
I
also want to tell you that we paid Sh13bn to the counties last week, we
paid this week Sh8bn and by end of November, we will have regularised
all other payments to counties and agencies.
I also
want to point out that we externalised our borrowing and there is a huge
balloon being pumped by the Opposition as to whether our decision to go
for the Euro or sovereign bond was correct or even timely.
Our
decision to externalise borrowing was not only correct, it was also
timely. In fact we got a trophy for getting the best deal in the
Eurobond in the emerging markets. Because those who went after us did
not get the rates we got.
We got the rates of 6.8 per
cent and 5.8 per cent while for those that went after us it’s now in the
region of 10 per cent because the US economy has strengthened and
borrowing has become more expensive.
We externalised
borrowing because it was the right thing to do and the reason being so
as not to crowd out the private sector. Two, by borrowing externally we
created a benchmark for the private sector to have access to external
markets which is a bigger benefit than even the money we got.
What
about those who say you are borrowing too much too fast? That debt
burden has grown dramatically under your watch and that Kenya’s debt
might be unsustainable?
It’s good to speak on that matter. What is the factual position? We have contracted debt, yes.
Our debt as a percentage of GDP has moved from 46.6 per cent to 48.5 per cent. That’s what has happened.
What
have we used that debt to achieve? One is SGR. It’s a huge,
transformative project. Also to generate more energy. To make energy
reliable and cheaper than it was. We have invested it on matters of
securing the country.
We have contracted debt and done the right thing with that debt.
All our partners, the World Bank, the IMF have given us an endorsement on our investment of the money that we have borrowed.
The
only endorsement we don’t have is from the Opposition. And we
understand because the kind of transformation this country is going
through is to the detriment of their political careers.
But they should understand it in a different way, we are making the country better for everyone.
Going back to debt. The World Bank and IMF assessment of the Kenyan economy is that the red line is 74 per cent.
If we contracted debt that took us to 74 per cent we would be nearing the red line. We are not at 74 per cent we are at 48.5.
Turning
to politics, your coalition has survived longer than most witnessed
since 2002. But is the relationship in government underpinned by
anything more than the personal friendship between you and the
President? URP and TNA and the rank and file in the parties don’t seem
to share the same warmth. Can the union survive without your personal
relationship?
The primary objective of our partnership was to consolidate the cohesion of Kenya and to get communities to work together.
The
issue of being elected and forming government was secondary. There has
been so much heartache and so much division and bloodshed and
destruction of property on account of politics for a long time.
In 2008, we almost lost the country because of division and politics.
So we made a very conscious decision. Many people told me it was not possible to have a working relation with Uhuru Kenyatta.
As
many people told Uhuru Kenyatta you can’t work with William Ruto.
That’s because of the obvious baggage that had been accumulated over
years by communities.
But against the odds and against
many of our own friends, we decided that win or lose, if we just managed
to get communities to work together and have a peaceful election that
was a victory enough.
Even if we didn’t win the
election we would have won just by having a peaceful election and
getting people who had not worked together working together.
So
against that background you don’t expect us to come and play monkey
games. We were thoroughly clear as to what we wanted to achieve.
And
beyond that we had a concrete plan. We said if God willing we win the
election we must change the fortunes of millions of Kenyans.
That
is the transformation agenda we are implementing. I want people to know
that from the day we signed the coalition agreement between TNA and URP
it hasn’t left the safe where it was put because we decided we want to
run this government as a coalition. We’ll run it as one.
Wouldn’t
you say that the people who question whether URP is being treated
fairly have a point? Several Cabinet Secretaries seen as allied to URP
were suspended some for what appeared to be minor infractions. On the
other side we see that for example the Devolution Cabinet Secretary is
still in office despite very serious allegations being levelled against
her and your own chief of staff left on relatively trivial grounds.
Would you say that there is fair treatment across the board?
First,
the sides you have talked about are your own imagination. We don’t have
TNA ministers and URP ministers. Just for your information.
Okay
I’ll reframe. Is there equal treatment of CSs, regardless of party
affiliation, particularly those that have been linked to corruption?
No.
Let’s go first by your argument. The first thing you have done is to
create and assign ministers to parties. And who tells you for example
that Davis Chirchir was not proposed by President Kenyatta?
Well, we read your coalition agreement during the campaign and it spoke of sharing Cabinet positions.
You
are wrong. In fact, I have told you that the coalition agreement was
not removed from the safe. And by the way it was signed before we went
for the campaign. I doubt that you have seen our agreement from the
safe.
We simply don’t have a TNA side or a URP side. I know it is difficult for people to believe this.
Because
they have a hangover of 10 years of that kind of discussion. Our side
versus their side. There is no side here. People have been looking for
sides. And they are completely lost. You are not alone in this confusion
of sides. There are so many people busy trying to find and draw the
line.
We have told our own MPs and politicians to
forget about sides. There are no sides in this thing. So just ask a
different question.
Why do you think that the
Devolution Cabinet Secretary has not been suspended despite the loss of
significant amounts of money in the National Youth Service and yet other
CSs were very swiftly dispatched for what appeared to be flimsier
misdemeanours? Do we expect to see action taken against her?
As
I said a few days ago, we will hold every public official to account
for their actions and their responsibilities in public service. That we
will. We have made it abundantly clear that that is non-negotiable.
Money was lost in NYS.
The person who blew the whistle
over the loss of money in NYS is the minister. It wasn’t the EACC like
it was for everybody else.
And it would be unfair to
get the whistle blower and punish her. If information will come to us or
to the investigating agencies that the minister was involved in any way
in these matters, she will face the same fate as her colleagues.
And indeed any other ministers that will be found. I want to promise you that we are thoroughly clear.
In
fact, all these stories that we are not serious about the fight against
corruption lack foundation. We are the only government that has done
what has never been done before.
We have had 175
people step aside from PSs, CSs, MDs, CEOs of institution for them to
face investigations. But the President was very clear that he was not
pronouncing on their guilt or otherwise because it would be unfair.
Everyone must go through due process.
We know
you can’t comment on the specific elements of your trial at the ICC but
the issue has been in the headlines in recent weeks with prayer rallies
and a lot of pronouncements by politicians. Opposition leader Raila
Odinga has offered to testify on your behalf while some of your
supporters have questioned his sincerity. What is your position on this
matter?
It’s not for me to make judgment on the sincerity of anyone.
I
think every person in Kenya who knows what happened and believes in
justice and fairness should be able to step forward with a clear
conscience and say what they know.
Because all of us were in Kenya and everybody that was in Kenya knows that William Ruto did not plan any violence.
So,
and many of them know how the ICC matter came to be, I think everybody
who knows the truth about what happened should step forward not because
they want to help William Ruto but because they want the truth to come
out.
That’s what I can say. Everybody knows the truth
of what happened because we were all here and we all know what really
happened.
So I would encourage everybody who knows
what the truth is to use the correct platform and I don’t think we
should engage in political discussion.
I think we
should be engaging the instruments of justice to make this statement in
the correct place with the lawyers, with the Office of the Prosecutor,
the Court we should be engaging those institutions so that we can
finally get to the truth because when we get to the truth then we can
find justice.
You consistently assert your innocence but how confident are you that you will be cleared?
I
am certain and sure of one thing. That I am innocent. That I am. I
don’t know about what the Court will decide. But I am certain that I am
innocent.
So an innocent person would be treated in a certain way by the court.
It’s
not for me to say what the court will do. But the one thing that I am
very sure about is that on the charges and anything about the
post-election violence I am an innocent man.
Would
you agree that there is a perception issue that has been attached to
you? Why always Ruto? You are finding your name in what seems to be an
endless succession of controversies relating to land, the referral
hospital, the procurement of the jet and others. Why is that?
You
see when you come from the background that I come from and that you by
God’s grace manage to go so far, in the process, people question. How is
this possible? How did you get here?
And they try to imagine all manner of issues. Just the way I have told you.
When
many people look at Jubilee, they cannot believe that it’s three years;
we have not heard about being short-changed, we have not heard about
quarrels, there must be something.
So they begin to
imagine so you end up with the issue that they didn’t wear a tie. I
agree that there are all these allegations.
But the
question you ask yourself is if any of these allegations is true why
hasn’t anybody proven it, just one of these allegations true. Is it
possible that you can make all these allegations and you cannot prove
any of them? If at all there was any proof.
And I
think in the process, somehow I make news. People like me. Newspapers
want to sell. I’m told these newspapers when their sales go down they
put me in the headlines. And then their sales improve. What am I
supposed to do?
No comments :
Post a Comment