Opinion / National
President William Ruto's poor and misguided politics! He lied to the voters
02 Jul 2024 at 16:11hrs | Views
We still have voices in Africa that spell it out: That one voice comes from Ghana: Kwesi Prett Jr. does not mince words: His politics is eloquent, he understands African politics. Without fear or favour, when Kwesi speak, his voice gives all well-meaning Africans some hope. There are Africans in the continent who will put some sense into our lunatic politics in the Sub-Sahara continent. Kwesi Prett Jr. wonders who inflicted Africa with the moulds of Ruto leadership. "We missed the irony: Ruto sends Kenyan police to Haiti to retain law and order at the behest of USA government: Joe Biden". Prior to which President Ruto had gone to America to meet Biden: He sold out Kenya and the rest of "Sub-Sahara Africa" In passing, the news media informed us that Kenya is now a designated non-NETO member of USA. Is that not pure neo colonialism". Clear Western puppet: A new African colony of United States of America has mushroomed; Said Prett.
The good question is: was there a referendum in Kenya regarding this geo-political new dispensation between USA and Kenya? Was the African Union and the regional countries in East Africa consulted about this alliance? Did Ruto use his presidential decree to sign actions that can affect Eastern region and continental security settings? Kwesi Prett does not stop asking pertinent questions; Ruto sends Kenyan police to Haiti, but his house is burning. He desperately needs the very police forces he sent to Haiti to put law and order right across Kenya. There are demonstrations in most cities across Kenya. The parliament in Nairobi has been burnt down. The Kenyan police are badly needed in Kenya than any other time in the history of Kenya. How did the irony escape us: Prett asks genuinely.
The protests in Kenya started when the finance bill was being debated in parliament. The proposed tax hikes caused deep unhappiness from the citizens. According to Chrispin Mwakideu, Ruto was accused of lying to the voters that he was going to implement bottom-up economic model; bring down the cost of living, eradicate hunger in the lives of Kenyans and create jobs: by so doing he was going to expand the tax bracket. These promises did not happen but instead, he started increasing taxes, doing very little to improve the lives of ordinary Kenyan people. Ruto tried to put blame on the former President, Uhuru Kenyata regarding the economic ills in Kenya: but the irony is, he forgets he was his Vice President for two terms.
President Ruto and his tax increase to manage external debt repayment are likened to the biblical Zacchaeus, a tax collector in Roman times who used to defraud citizen by inflating figures of what they owed the roman government back then. Ruto hoped to collect $2,7 billion. The IMF had penned $2,5 billion repayment. Ruto had approached the IMF initially for debt relief: instead, IMF prescribed more austerities, how Kenya should increase tax base on essential commodities, resulting in squeezing already impoverished Kenyans to destitution. This led to an exploding in many cities in Kenya. More than twenty people lost their lives: Children were not spared; they were shot dead with live bullets. Hundreds of people were left maimed and hurt by violent reaction of the police, who were given independent power to act in the way they found fit. When President Ruto gave the police sweeping powers to deal with demonstrations, he was tactically recusing himself of the carnage: casualties inflicted on innocent citizens who were genuinely seeking answers from the President they voted for not long ago. Ruto seriously reneged his vote promises he made to the voters. What infuriated the citizens more is how the President commented on the demonstrations. He criminalized them instead of listening to their grievances. The indiscriminate shooting led to the deaths of even children. Are children to be labelled criminals, President Ruto?
Kenyan citizens are still demonstrating even though Ruto said he will not sign the bill. Kenyan people think Ruto lied to them, and he cannot be trusted. It is for this reason demonstrations have not stopped until they remove him from power. There is massive corruption at every angle in Kenya. Tax funds are not prioritized effectively. Politicians are living large at the expense of the poor majority. It is for this reason that the people of Kenya want to remove the top servant and regain their power to the people. Kenya is not the only country that is revolutionizing. According to Kwesi Prett, the wind is blowing across Africa, and nobody will stop it. Young African populations whose demographics amounts to more than 70% will not continue to languish in poverty. President Ruto and the rest of them cannot continue to eat on our behalf.
These political transformations in most African countries are the push and pull migration.
It is the irony of time, that a young politician of Ruto's age has not learnt anything from our founding fathers and mothers. Africa has had revolutionaries of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkruma, Jomo Kenyata, Keneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere, Samora Maschel: to name those few, had great vision for Africa. Jomo Kenyata must be turning in his grave when President Ruto signed a document making Kenya a colony of America. What does it mean Kenya is a non-NATO ally of America? Ruto's folk-tonged speeches confused many of us into thinking that he is of a young generation openly questioning the money lending bodies about the unevenness of international lending methodologies. Will there be an American military base in Kenya now that Kenya is a non-NETO allay of USA? Are we going to see bio-chemical factories manufacturing bio-chemical weapons right in the middle of Africa? Prett Kwesi said African presidents stopped to think long back. They are useless. Their actions are not well-thought through: They lack foresight. Does Ruto know the consequences of becoming an ally of USA? Henry Kissinger said it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.
Something is brewing in the southern Sahara Africa. We are let down by politicians who have no ideas about how to govern nations effectively for the benefits of the majority. What is happening in Kenya can happen to any country in Africa. Our governments are self-serving disregarding the people they serve: the looting of resources for the benefits of their immediate families will be challenged by hungry stomachs. In Kenya, it was the finance bill that set the fire. We saw it in South Africa how the incarceration of Zuma triggered mass demonstrations that was quelled by the army. The Sahel region is decolonizing, becoming a textbook lesson to other countries to emulate. Standing up against corrupt governments is not youthful and therefore to be criminalized. Its not criminal to tell someone you voted for and tell him that he reneged his vote promises. Ruto has learnt in a hard way that a hungry stomach has its own language of expression: demonstrations. Ruto must be stopped from selling Kenya to the global elite. If it is the Kenyan people who want him out of office, then he must go and he stops urinating on the faces of the Kenyan people.
The good question is: was there a referendum in Kenya regarding this geo-political new dispensation between USA and Kenya? Was the African Union and the regional countries in East Africa consulted about this alliance? Did Ruto use his presidential decree to sign actions that can affect Eastern region and continental security settings? Kwesi Prett does not stop asking pertinent questions; Ruto sends Kenyan police to Haiti, but his house is burning. He desperately needs the very police forces he sent to Haiti to put law and order right across Kenya. There are demonstrations in most cities across Kenya. The parliament in Nairobi has been burnt down. The Kenyan police are badly needed in Kenya than any other time in the history of Kenya. How did the irony escape us: Prett asks genuinely.
The protests in Kenya started when the finance bill was being debated in parliament. The proposed tax hikes caused deep unhappiness from the citizens. According to Chrispin Mwakideu, Ruto was accused of lying to the voters that he was going to implement bottom-up economic model; bring down the cost of living, eradicate hunger in the lives of Kenyans and create jobs: by so doing he was going to expand the tax bracket. These promises did not happen but instead, he started increasing taxes, doing very little to improve the lives of ordinary Kenyan people. Ruto tried to put blame on the former President, Uhuru Kenyata regarding the economic ills in Kenya: but the irony is, he forgets he was his Vice President for two terms.
President Ruto and his tax increase to manage external debt repayment are likened to the biblical Zacchaeus, a tax collector in Roman times who used to defraud citizen by inflating figures of what they owed the roman government back then. Ruto hoped to collect $2,7 billion. The IMF had penned $2,5 billion repayment. Ruto had approached the IMF initially for debt relief: instead, IMF prescribed more austerities, how Kenya should increase tax base on essential commodities, resulting in squeezing already impoverished Kenyans to destitution. This led to an exploding in many cities in Kenya. More than twenty people lost their lives: Children were not spared; they were shot dead with live bullets. Hundreds of people were left maimed and hurt by violent reaction of the police, who were given independent power to act in the way they found fit. When President Ruto gave the police sweeping powers to deal with demonstrations, he was tactically recusing himself of the carnage: casualties inflicted on innocent citizens who were genuinely seeking answers from the President they voted for not long ago. Ruto seriously reneged his vote promises he made to the voters. What infuriated the citizens more is how the President commented on the demonstrations. He criminalized them instead of listening to their grievances. The indiscriminate shooting led to the deaths of even children. Are children to be labelled criminals, President Ruto?
Kenyan citizens are still demonstrating even though Ruto said he will not sign the bill. Kenyan people think Ruto lied to them, and he cannot be trusted. It is for this reason demonstrations have not stopped until they remove him from power. There is massive corruption at every angle in Kenya. Tax funds are not prioritized effectively. Politicians are living large at the expense of the poor majority. It is for this reason that the people of Kenya want to remove the top servant and regain their power to the people. Kenya is not the only country that is revolutionizing. According to Kwesi Prett, the wind is blowing across Africa, and nobody will stop it. Young African populations whose demographics amounts to more than 70% will not continue to languish in poverty. President Ruto and the rest of them cannot continue to eat on our behalf.
These political transformations in most African countries are the push and pull migration.
It is the irony of time, that a young politician of Ruto's age has not learnt anything from our founding fathers and mothers. Africa has had revolutionaries of Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkruma, Jomo Kenyata, Keneth Kaunda, Julius Nyerere, Samora Maschel: to name those few, had great vision for Africa. Jomo Kenyata must be turning in his grave when President Ruto signed a document making Kenya a colony of America. What does it mean Kenya is a non-NATO ally of America? Ruto's folk-tonged speeches confused many of us into thinking that he is of a young generation openly questioning the money lending bodies about the unevenness of international lending methodologies. Will there be an American military base in Kenya now that Kenya is a non-NETO allay of USA? Are we going to see bio-chemical factories manufacturing bio-chemical weapons right in the middle of Africa? Prett Kwesi said African presidents stopped to think long back. They are useless. Their actions are not well-thought through: They lack foresight. Does Ruto know the consequences of becoming an ally of USA? Henry Kissinger said it may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.
Something is brewing in the southern Sahara Africa. We are let down by politicians who have no ideas about how to govern nations effectively for the benefits of the majority. What is happening in Kenya can happen to any country in Africa. Our governments are self-serving disregarding the people they serve: the looting of resources for the benefits of their immediate families will be challenged by hungry stomachs. In Kenya, it was the finance bill that set the fire. We saw it in South Africa how the incarceration of Zuma triggered mass demonstrations that was quelled by the army. The Sahel region is decolonizing, becoming a textbook lesson to other countries to emulate. Standing up against corrupt governments is not youthful and therefore to be criminalized. Its not criminal to tell someone you voted for and tell him that he reneged his vote promises. Ruto has learnt in a hard way that a hungry stomach has its own language of expression: demonstrations. Ruto must be stopped from selling Kenya to the global elite. If it is the Kenyan people who want him out of office, then he must go and he stops urinating on the faces of the Kenyan people.
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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