from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2013

Some of you have been asking my opinion on what I say about the call by Kakamega Senator, Dr. Bonny Khalwale that Deputy President William Ruto should resign for flouting Chapter Six of the constitution that talks about leadership and Integrity.

This is after the court found him guilty of grabbing 100-acre piece of land that belonged to Mr. Adrian Muteshi, an IDP at the height of 2008 post election violence in Uasin Gishu. Ruto was ordered to pay Sh5 million as compensation for unlawfully possessing the land.

Khalwale said that the same laws that applied to former Deputy Chief Justice Dr. Nancy Barasa should apply to Ruto, noting that Barasa was shown the door just for pinching a security guard’s nose, but with Ruto it is serious as the court itself found him guilty of land grabbing and therefore unfit to hold any public office let alone being the Deputy President as required by Chapter Six of the constitution.

My opinion why Ruto cannot be shown the door is to do with culture of impunity in Kenya. This is not even the first scandal labelled against Ruto. In October 20, 2010 the High Court ruled Ruto had a case to answer in connection with alleged payment of millions of shillings arising from land deals involving the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPL). He was suspended briefly but later on reinstated.

Ruto was charged with defrauding the KPL of large amounts of money through dubious land deals, notably through the sale of a piece of land in Ngong forest to the company. A key witness in the fraud case, Ms Mary Ng’ethe, was appointed to a government board, allegedly on the instigation of the ODM party, “to discourage her from testifying,” according to former Raila aide Miguna Miguna. This resulted in Ruto’s acquittal for lack of evidence.

This can explain why before the 2010 constitutional referendum, Ruto campaigned against the promulgation of the new Constitution, arguing that some of its clauses were untenable. The ‘No’ campaigners were, however, resoundingly defeated at the referendum. Probably he did not want the constitution to pass because of this Chapter Six on integrity.

Another reason why in my own opinion I don’t think Uhuru will allow this to happen since the two are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC), all relating to the violence that broke out in the aftermath of the disputed 2007 presidential election.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002