KDRTV News Atlanta Georgia-May 20th, 2024 will go down as one of the saddest days in Kenya’s history.
It is the day when Kenyans at home had expected those in the diaspora to put the President Ruto to task on various challenges facing Wanjiku at home.
What do the Kenyans living thousands of miles away got to lose by seeking the truth? Are they not living in a country where free speech is entrenched in the constitution? And going by the remittances they make; they should be concerned about the sad state of affairs at home. Surely, they will look for answers for us; the people thought.
Sadly, and to Kenyans disappointment, the day will go down in history as the day that the president made empty promises and the crowd cheered him on. It is the day when the president told the Diasporians how he is going to continue oppressing those at home and the crowd cheered him on.
Speaking to a large crown of Kenyans that gathered in Cobb Galleria Center in Atlanta Georgia, the visiting Kenyan head of state crafty explained how he is going to continue overtaxing the Kenyans at home and the crowd cheered him on. “Even your tax list in America is long, right”? For the record, you are wrong Mr. President. We do not pay the high percentages that you have set in Kenya.
It is the day when William Samoei Ruto told Kenyans that even after over-taxing the already poorly paid Kenyans at home, he is going to follow it up by forcing them to deliver another 6% of the remainder from them in form of savings. And the crowd cheered him on.
It is the day when the president told them that his goal is to find places, he is going to send Kenyan workers (or semi-slaves) and the crowd cheered him on. “Germany has just offered me 250,000 positions”; he stated. And the crowd rose in jubilation. What happened to “the come-back-home” appeal so that we may build the nation together?
It is the day when William Samoei Ruto claimed to have powers to change the American immigration policies by making sure that they get HI-A (or is it HI-B, he asked) visas. “Why did you think I am going to meet Biden? It is for you folks to get such visas;” he said. And the crowd cheered him on. For the record, even President Biden does not have power to single-handedly change the American immigration policy.
The list of empty promises and lies went on and on as the crowd which seemed not to understand the reality on the ground cheered him.
Nobody in the crowd of expectedly intelligent Diasporians dared ask him to explain why he decided to abandon his regular means of air transport and borrow an expensive luxurious jet a Boeing 737-700 from Royal Jet of Dubai which can fly for 10 to 12 hours nonstop, with the cost of the 18-hour flight from Nairobi to Atlanta totaling KShs. 98 million . True, I have no idea who is paying for it, but it really does not matter.
If it is the Americans, Ruto will be forced to pay for it by accepting some unfriendly requests. President Ruto should know that in a capitalist world, there is no such a thing as a free jet. If Kenyans are paying more than the Kshs. two hundred million per hour towards borrowing the jet, that is just being inhuman after what the country is going through in its efforts to recover from the many recent calamities.
Did he also have to include so many riders in his entourage? What are they really doing besides receiving their expensive stipends? If Kenyans are to tighten their belts as he often states, the president and the so-called leaders should show by example.
Ruto knew that the question of his relationship with his deputy was in people’s minds after seeing what was going on at home. He understood this question had been asked in other forums. He did not voluntarily address it, and nobody dared to ask him.
Nobody asked him why the largest number of chief officers in every department are from only one ethnic group. Nobody asked him why he lives and travels so lavishly when the Kenyans at home continue to suffer.
Lastly, nobody in the energized frenzied crowd of court jesters was courageous enough to ask him what happened to the forgotten bottoms-up economy that he promised during the campaigns or what he has done to alleviate the suffering thousands of Kenyans who have been left homeless due to the floods that ravaged several parts of the Country.
By Prof. Peter Ndiang’ui, Fort Myers, Florida- Senior Columnist at KDRTV News
