A political commentator has criticised President William Ruto for being a master of doublespeak.
Stanley Kokonya, has asked the Head of State to always stand by his sentiments, after the President lifted the ban on logging that has been in force for some time.
“Just a few a years ago, we saw him supporting the ban on people encroaching forests in a highly publicised event and then last week we saw him allowing people to cut trees from forests for timbers, charcoal and even firewood. What has changed within this short time?” asked Mr Kokonya.
He added, “The President is a symbol of national unity and it still baffles us when he attacks other arms of government.”
He noted the courts ruled in favour of Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah on implementation of the Finance Bill 2023 and what has been said regarding the same by the Head of State baffles many people in the country.
“As Kenyans grapple with high cost of living, the only hope Kenyans have is the Judiciary and we wish to ask the President not to interfere with it as Kenyans are happy with what Okiya Omtatah is doing for them,” he said.
He said the cost of living is very unbearable to many families, with the V-power retailing at Ksh210 currently, yet the President is not seeing it as an issue.
During campaigns, President Ruto promised to lower the cost of petrol which was retailing at Ksh156 but now, people are wondering what made it difficult for him to bring it down to Ksh100 as he had promised.
“We see the Head of State in church every Sunday and his mastery of the bible amazes us. Why is he preaching water and taking wine,” asked Mr Kokonya.
A few days ago, Salaries and Renumeration Commission proposed a pay rise of 14.6 per cent to the President, Members of Parliament, and other state officers just to cushion them from the high cost of living, yet majority of Kenyans are living below a dollar a day.
“A good leader always has people’s interests at heart before any other thing. It still baffles me that hustlers who supported him dearly are finding the going very tough yet they voted to the last man with the hope of their lives becoming better,” he said.
On the issue of 50 Chief Administrative Secretaries (CAS), Kokonya said that the president knew well that whatever he was doing was unconstitutional but he appointed them deliberately.
“Now that the court has termed the appointments unconstitutional, it will be better if the President does not appeal over the same and let them go home just as the court has said, to curb wastage of resources on them,” he said.
In 2007, the president was a fiery supporter of Raila Odinga and he was on fore front pushing Opposition’s agenda in courts after the disputed General Elections of 2007 that saw him taken to International Criminal Court in Hague, Netherlands.
“In a video that is going viral, the president during an interview with senior journalist David Makali and Mutegi Njau of Citizen then is seen supporting demonstrators and as it is allowed in our Constitution. What has changed that demonstration by then were legal and now that he is in the opposite direction it is illegal?” he posed.
He noted ev0eryone can see how the president was against police arresting of protestors.
A few weeks to the passage of Finance Bill, 2023, the president had assured Kenyans that he won’t add even a single cent on tax being levied to them, but what came next is punitive tax that the high court has halted its implementation and the same is what has led disgruntled Kenyans to streets.
Kokonya has likened Kenyans’ situation to someone who leaves his first wife to marry a second wife after tarnishing the name of the first wife only to realize that the first wife is far much better than the second wife.
“As sons of the soil, we are going to agitate for the rights of Kenyans and we are not going to allow Kenyans to be exploited as we watch.”
