Raila Odinga has, in what would be DP Ruto’s biggest political talkwar win, said that every politician is a hustler.
The AU’s special envoy while dismissing number two in his political bedroom—Rift Valley, said Ruto’s ‘hustler‘ narrative as misleading.
Raila, while insisting that DP Ruto is deceiving voters, said that all Kenya’s past presidents were peasants before they ascended to power.
“I’m the son of the late Jaramogi Odinga, his father was a peasant. Look at all the Kenyan presidents, Kenyatta, Kibaki and Moi, they all began poor, they were all hustlers,” Raila said.
ODM Party leader was speaking at nominated MP Wilson Sossion’s home in Tenwek, Bomet County.
Sossion’s family was celebrating admission of the only female lawyer in the entire village and neighbourhoods, his daughter Rosemary Chepkorir to the Bar.
According to Raila, the late Jomo Kenyatta, before he became president, was a city water meter reader. The late Mzee Daniel Moi was a school teacher, while retired President Mwai Kibaki was a struggling politician.
Ruto has popularised the phrase ‘hustler’, which is used to depict him as a son of a peasant who has pulled himself by his bootstraps to a point where he is just a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Most of his supporters have now come up with a narrative of a hustler nation, where the DP is projected as a leader who cares for the downtrodden, the sufferers, and the jobless because he too has walked their path in his youth when he hawked chickens by the roadside.
“We should be telling Kenyans about our manifestos, policies that would improve our economy and what we will do for them,” Raila said.
The event was attended by Cotu Secretary General Francis Atwoli, Kanu secretary general Nick Salat, Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, Siaya Senator James Orengo, MPs Johanna Ng’eno (Emurua Dikirr) and Otiende Amollo (Rarieda).
DP Ruto and his political allies are yet to respond to the statements made by Raila Odinga.
