By Seliphar Musungu
KAKAMEGA
Ahead of Kenya’s August 2022 general election Deputy President William Ruto launched his manifesto on behalf of the Kenya Kwanza coalition led by his party the United Democratic Alliance. A claim soon emerged that he had failed to include corruption in his manifesto and to indicate what he will do to eradicate it.
Prof. Makau Mutua, who is the spokesperson of Raila Odinga’s presidential campaign secretariat, criticized the Deputy President’s manifesto saying that Ruto had failed to mention corruption in his manifesto and that he had avoided the subject “like the plague”.
Ruto was the main challenger to Odinga, the flag-bearer of Azimio la Umoja, One Kenya coalition, in the just concluded election.
Professor Mutua posted the claim on his Twitter account and also shared it on Facebook saying that “Mr. Ruto’s complete failure to mention corruption at manifesto launch is enough reason for Kenyans to reject him”. This is the link to his post on Facebook.
A fact check of the Kenya Kwanza manifesto shows the claim to be false. The manifesto does talk about corruption and also elaborates on how Ruto’s government will eradicate corruption in Kenya.
Page 59 of the manifesto itemizes one of the goals of Kenya Kwanza ast “Ending the weaponization and politicization of the anti-corruption efforts by allowing the relevant institutions to freely exercise the independence given to them by the constitution.” It goes on to explain on page 61 that Kenya Kwanza will “grant financial independence to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the police to prevent their reliance on the President’s Office”
The manifesto carries much more about corruption and Ruto also spoke on the subject at Kasarani stadium in Nairobi during a question and answer session after launching his manifesto. The previous link to the Youtube video posted by Nation media of Ruto’s full speech during the manifesto launch includes the question and answer part.
Therefore, the claim by Prof. Mutua that Ruto completely failed to mention corruption in his manifesto is FALSE.
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