Wamuchomba accuses Ruto of ‘nauseating’ lies on his scorecard ahead of Mt Kenya visit

Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba has accused President William Ruto of lying about his scorecard in the Mount Kenya region, where he kicks off a five-day tour on Tuesday.

Ruto is expected to commission completed projects, inspect ongoing ones and launch others in the central-Kenya counties of Laikipia, Nyeri, Meru, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua, Murang'a, Embu, Tharaka-Nithi and Kiambu.

Ahead of the visit, the President has been speaking about various projects he considers success stories in the vote-rich region since his government took office in September 2022.

Wamuchomba, whose constituency is in Kiambu, said Ruto’s trip is meant to shed a purported public perception of him being a liar, citing Githunguri voters among those who view him that way.

“He is coming to unjustify the perception people have of him that he does not deliver on his promises, does not follow up on promises he initiates,” the MP told Citizen TV’s Daybreak program on Tuesday.

Wamuchomba tore into Ruto’s Monday night interview with broadcasters serving the Mt Kenya region, saying he lied about his government’s performance.

“He said he has not completed the Nithi bridge he promised he’d finish in 100 days because he had to consult KURA and KENHA. As the President, you cannot say you have been consulting your lieutenants, eight months later,” Wamuchomba said.

The MP said she was “very disappointed” with the President for “speaking things that are completely untrue”, such as his government’s role in stabilising milk and coffee prices to the benefit of Mt Kenya farmers.

“I was getting nauseated when the President was speaking. He cannot tell farmers he stabilised prices through the Coffee Cherry Fund, yet he knows very well he did not put the money in farmers’ accounts,” Wamuchomba said.

She claimed Ruto only gave out Ksh.2 billion of a Ksh.4 billion allocation, which went into a commercial bank account and bought Treasury bonds without consulting farmers and legislators.

According to the MP, debts in the coffee sector persist despite Ruto’s declaration that he had settled them.

“The only waiver money I know about was to a coffee society in Mathira, but three months later, farmers were deducted for it. It was not a grant,” Wamuchomba said.

“What I commend him for are the coffee reforms which have streamlined governance structures. Money that was disappearing to the millers, brokers and marketers is now going to farmers.”

Ruto’s trip marks his first visit to the region in nearly six months and since the impeachment of his former deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, who hails from the region and of whom Wamuchomba is an ally.

On Monday, Gachagua challenged Ruto to launch his new projects in the region and stop what he called riding on his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta’s old projects.

Gachagua told a roadside rally at Wangige in Kiambu County that Ruto was a perpetual liar and urged locals to ignore his rhetoric.

In response, Ruto said in the media interview late evening, “I have heard some leaders say I have done nothing. But I was the one who initiated the road from Marua, passing through Wamunyoro, where this very critic lives.”

The President’s itinerary includes projects in key sectors such as road infrastructure, affordable housing, fresh produce markets, last-mile electricity connectivity, water, and irrigation.