Appreciate Ruto's Ksh.10K donation to flood victims - Senator Nyutu, MP Lotee say

A section of lawmakers have defended President William Ruto from criticism of his promise of Ksh.10,000 for every household displaced by floods in Nairobi County.

Ruto on Monday visited flood victims in Mathare, where he promised Ksh.10,000 to each of the 40,000 affected families.

But on Wednesday, the opposition Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party dismissed Ruto’s pledge as “a case of too little, too late” by the president’s “disastrous” Kenya Kwanza administration.

“For families that have lost everything, such allocations are too little to start afresh. We demand that the government increase the allocation to at least Ksh.100,000 per family and immediately launch an emergency aid appeal for all the flood victims in Kenya,” Azimio co-principal and Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka told a press conference.

During Thursday’s Daybreak program on Citizen TV, Kalicheba MP Titus Lotee accused the opposition of hypocrisy, saying Kenyans should appreciate Ruto’s offer as a gesture of concern and empathy.

“The whole ODM team gave Ksh.1 million and are asking the government to give Ksh.100,000 per family? The monthly budget of these households is probably not more than Ksh.10,000,” said Lotee.

He said the Ksh.10,000 is not negligible, arguing that catering for the 40,000 families in three months will cost the state Ksh.1.2 billion.

“For the first time, I saw the president in gumboots in a muddy area in the slum, no other president has done that. It shows he empathises with the situation and wants action taken.”

Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu with whom Lotee was in a panel discussion also dismissed the opposition’s criticism as coming from a point of privilege.

“Some people think Ksh.10,000 is too little, but those are people who think everybody lives the kind of life they live. But these people live in a 10-by-10-foot room without many items and can get somewhere to live at a rent of Ksh.1,000 or Ksh.2,000 and use part of the money to do small business,” the senator said.

“It is not enough; nobody has enough money, but it was a good gesture as the government looks into what more can be done,” Nyutu added, referring to Ruto’s announcement that the state will additionally construct new homes in Nairobi’s most flood-hit areas.

At least 257 people have so far died since heavy rains and flooding in most of Kenya began in March.

Government figures released on Wednesday show that 188 people have been injured while a further 293, 661 are affected by the floods as 54,837 households have been displaced.