Kenya: ODM Dismisses Ruto-Led UDA PG as Diversionary, Blames Ruto for Jubilee Failures

Nairobi — Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party has dismissed Deputy President William Ruto-led United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Parliamentary Group meeting as diversionary saying the DP is to blame for confusion in Jubilee Party.

ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna, through a statement shared to newsrooms on Thursday, said Ruto’s attempts to explain the bottom-up approach showed that he had no clue but just trying to blame everyone else for his failures.

“They have comically tried to frame the argument as between the so-called bottom-up viz trickle-down economic models, whilst demonstrating they have no clue what either means. They have chosen to blame their self-inflicted problems on everyone but themselves,” Sifuna said hours after the UDA team issued a statement.

The Ruto-led group had accused the National Super Alliance (NASA) of hijacking the government’s agenda resulting in a mismanaged economy leading to rising public debt.

“For the past four years, we have consistently and repeatedly raised concerns and objections to Jubilee’s abandoning of its agenda and solemn commitments upon which it was re-elected in 2017. Regrettably, the NASA coalition, its principals, and their Jubilee collaborators took the government hostage, hijacked its agenda,” the group said in a joint statement.

Contrary to UDA’s claim, Sifuna said Jubilee’s Big Four Agenda was progressing smoothly only that the DP is not part of the agenda.

The Raila Odinga-led party said that if he was genuine, Ruto would have implemented the bottom-up approach during Jubilee’s first term when he was largely in control of government agenda.

“The President extended tanga tanga and their leader a lot of leeway in Jubilee’s first term, which they could very well have used to implement this so-called bottom-up approach but which they instead saw as an opportunity to loot, grab, and basically run the country into the ground,” Sifuna said.