DP Ruto owes Kibra residents an apology for voter bribery and violence, says ODM

DP Ruto owes Kibra residents an apology for voter bribery and violence, says ODM

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party now wants Deputy President William Ruto to apologise to Kibra residents for allegedly spearheading voter bribery, fear mongering, lies, anger and violence in the just concluded by-election.

ODM, in a statement by the party’s Nairobi branch Chairman George Aladwa and Director of Elections Junet Mohammed, castigated the DP and his allies for what it termed as causing mayhem.

The party also accused DP Ruto of attempting to use the Kibra and Ganda by-elections “to teach a lesson to ODM and its leader Raila Odinga.”

“In a bid to realize his wish, Ruto made sure Ganda by-elections not only turned violent and chaotic but also ended with the fatal shooting of one resident,” read the statement.

“Ruto’s person in that contest, Aisha Jumwa, has been charged in court for the fracas that lead to the death. In the end, Ruto lost Ganda to ODM but his team left the people of Ganda in pain and tears.”

According to ODM, the DP showed up in Kibra during Jubilee’s final campaign rallies leading to the by-election with heavy security in an attempt to provoke a reaction from the area residents.

Terming DP Ruto as “desperate, deserted and bitter”, Mr. Aladwa and Mr. Mohammed further condemned him for not speaking out against the violence witnessed in Ganda or the “voter bribery by his people” in Kibra.

“On voting day, Ruto’s main errand boy in Kibra Bonny Khalwale was caught in all media; print, electronic and social, armed with stones, trying to cause mayhem,” added the statement.

“Instead, in his trademark hypocrisy, Ruto has spent the days after the polls venting his frustrations on ODM and Raila Odinga and choosing to condemn violence and bribery where they never existed while ignoring it where they did in plain sight.”

It further stated: “We wish to remind Kenyans that Ruto was not in any of these by-elections to win. He was in these polls to divide Kenyans along ethnic, regional and party lines using money and lies.”

The party also intimated that the wins by ODM in both Kibra and Ganda polls left DP Ruto a “bitter, isolated and frustrated man”, adding that “we owe him no apology. We have no sympathy for him.”

The deputy president had earlier on, in a Twitter post, urged Raila Odinga to “bring ODM’s primitive and retrogressive signature culture of violence/chaos to an end” and to disband his “militia to show their commitment to handshake.”

— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) November 10, 2019

ODM candidate Bernard Imran Okoth emerged winner in the hotly-contested Kibra by-election, garnering 24,636 votes with Jubilee Party’s McDonald Mariga coming in second with 11,230 votes.

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raila odinga odm DP William Ruto Kibra by-election Bernard Imran Okoth McDonald Marig

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