'You can't even build a road to your home,' Ruto hits back at Kalonzo over Kibwezi road

The tussle started on Sunday after President Ruto accused Kalonzo of being a pessimist and lacks authority to lecture him on his ambitious development agendas.

Kalonzo chose to make a rebuttal to the claims, wanting the President to desist from mentioning his name and abandoning the agendas of his engagement forums.

“Ruto was in Kiambu where he made me the subject instead of worshipping. He was talking about me and my home area, saying there are no roads,” he said on Monday.

“He said I have been in governance and leadership for 50 years. I will correct him, it’s 40 years.”

In a rebuttal, President Ruto went gloves off on Tuesday, maintaining that Kalonzo has no right to censure him over development, terming him a less competent leader who has achieved nothing after four decades in leadership.

Speaking while laying the Foundation Stone for Turkana University Students' Hostel in Turkana County, he argued that the Kibwezi-Bondoni road, which Kalonzo prides in launching, was pioneered during the 2013-2017 administration, when Ruto was Deputy President.

"He (Kalonzo) tried to respond to me and said he was the one who launched the road from Kibwezi to Bondoni. Look for the idiots to deceive. Fools are no longer in Kenya. You didn't build that road. It's Uhuru Kenyatta and I. We have the facts. We have the evidence. The mind to build a road, I am afraid, will take you a while," Ruto noted.

He also maintained the "no road to your home" mockery, saying that Kalonzo is unable to deliver development to Kenyans if he cannot construct a road to his home.

"If you can't build your own road, you will build someone else's. In 40 years you haven't built a road to your own. How many hundred years do you need to build a road for other Kenyans? Wouldn't it take 1000 years?" Ruto posed.

The president insisted that he will not be swayed from pursuing his ambitious transformation agenda to improve the livelihoods of Kenyans.

"Our plan is to lift 10 million people from poverty. Yesterday we passed the National Infrastructure Fund and the Sovereign Wealth Fund which will help us close the gap between the poor and the rich," he noted.

President Ruto plans to effect a Ksh.5 trillion development project using the funds within 10 years.