DP will borrow Museveni’s strong-arm tactics if he wins, Raila allies say
Anthony Mwangi and Wycliffe Kipsang
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) now claims that Deputy President William Ruto intends to use the strong-arm tactics of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement party to capture power.
MPs led by the Minority Whip in the National Assembly Junet Mohammed said the relationship between the DP and the NRM was worrying going by the Uganda’s ruling party history of oppressing democratic forces and accusations of election rigging.
“We want to state very categorically that we do not need to borrow from other countries political habits whose end result can only lead to chaos and backwardness of our country,” they said in statement.
They said that NRM’s history was synonymous with vote rigging, chaos and violation of human rights and anyone associating it with the party should be stopped.
“If he decides to go the Uganda way, Ruto will never relinquish power should he capture it. He will take his mentor’s cue,” the MPs said.
The lawmakers, who included national chairman John Mbadi, also claimed the DP was planning to use advise from NRM to destabilise the country in the event that he loses in next year’s election.
“We have said before, and we want to repeat here, that Ruto is not fit to be President,” said Junet.
While confirming the airport incident, Kapseret MP Ocar Sudi said Ruto’s team went to Uganda to learn lessons from NRM.
Speaking in Eldoret yesterday, he said they were on a benchmarking mission to Uganda and Tanzania on how to build a strong party with structures and rules to govern.
Turkish national
“We want to borrow from Uganda’s strong political system where nobody will own a party like a private entity.
It will be governed by rules. Even the DP will have to abide by the rules. He will be summoned if he flouts party rules,” said Sudi.
Ruto was on Monday barred from travelling to Uganda in a dramatic scene at Nairobi’s Wilson Airport after he allegedly failed to seek clearance from the Immigration department.
However others in his entourage including MPs Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Sudi and Benjamin Tayari (Kinango) were allowed to travel.
Sudi dared the government to arrest him, Ruto and businessman David Lagat if it has enough evidence of them having deals with an alleged terror suspect.
The MP dismissed claims that the Turkish National Harun Aydin, who was in the DP’s travel team, had terror links adding that he was a genuine businessman with interests in horticulture and other investments.
The legislator questioned why the businessman was allowed to travel if he was terrorist.
