Deputy President William Ruto’s office and the police are locked in a blame game over the chaos on Wednesday that rocked the DP’s Kondole visit and left several vehicles damaged.
The visit was supposed to be a much-vaunted test of amity and the ability of politicians to campaign peacefully on their rivals' turf.
Police said Ruto and his team ignored intelligence reports of tension within Kisumu’s Kondele estate after some groups missed out on promised campaign handouts, said to total Sh1 million.
“This intelligence was promptly shared by the police with the Deputy President’s team with recommendations to skip the affected area during the tour,” police spokesman Bruno Shioso said in a statement.
But Ruto’s office dismissed the police narrative as ukora tupu [dishonest].
The DP’s communications director Emmanuel Tallam said Ruto’s security had been down-scaled in the Nyanza visit.
In a communiqué, the DP's office accused the police of engaging in political mischief. They denied the dishing out of handouts.
“The statement by the National Police Service, which carelessly profiles people in regrettable terms, underscores the fact that they had intelligence on the criminal conspiracy to perpetrate lawlessness in broad daylight, and ample opportunity to stop it and facilitate a peaceful event, but consciously opted to engage in political mischief instead,” Ruto’s communication secretary David Mugonyi said.
He went on, “At no point was there deployment of campaign finances as alleged by the police.
"The police should not play around with people's lives or property. Just do your job.”
Ruto landed in Kisumu on Tuesday and received a rousing welcome. He met various groups without any ugly incident.
Sources within the police told the Star that on Tuesday evening, Ruto met a faction of the Kondele groups at Susan Owiyo Gardens to plan the Wednesday rally.
He later moved to Ciala Resort where he gave the group Sh1 million. The gift is said to have leaked.
Another faction of the group felt slighted and vowed to disrupt the meeting.
From early Wednesday morning, signs of trouble were evident. Tension had been building at Kondele roundabout, the venue of Ruto's meeting.
The youths jammed the place by 9am, chanting ODM slogans. Some sang praises of ODM leader Raila Odinga as others demanded money before the meeting could happen.
Moments before the DP’s arrival, anti-riot police officers were forced to lob tear gas canisters, forcing the rowdy youths who had thronged the area to flee for safety.
As Ruto's convoy forced its way into the grounds, a fracas broke out as some youths started throwing stones.
Several vehicles were badly damaged. There were no reports of injuries.
Ruto condemned the violence saying it's “shameful” to use violence in politics.
He said the employment of the youth by leaders to advance their selfish gains was primitive.
“It must be condemned. We will get Kisumu out of this stone-throwing culture,” he said.
Ruto spoke briefly in Kisumu Central constituency during the empowerment of small-scale traders from Nyalenda and Kondele.
He gave Sh2.5 million for boda boda operators while the mama mboga received Sh2 million to expand their businesses.
In Rongo, Ranen and Uriri in Migori county, where he also empowered small traders, Ruto asked them to desist from being used to perpetuate chaos.
“If it is stone-throwing, let them (politicians) be on the frontline with their children,” he said.
For the better part of Wednesday, Kondele remained a no-go zone as the police battled the youths along Kondele-Mamboleo-Kakamega highway.
Motorists heading to Kakamega through Kondele roundabout had a hectic time negotiating their way from the area.
Some of the youths stopped vehicles, inspecting whether occupants had UDA T-shirts. Some carried BBI placards.
"This is ODM zone, it is Baba's bedroom," they shouted. Some of the youths claimed that an official of UDA, who was part of the planning of the DP's visit, had short changed them.
"He was given money for our facilitation but pocketed the entire amount," one of the youths claimed.
Ruto, who had a successful tour of the lakeside city on Tuesday, where he met UDA delegates from Siaya and Kisumu counties, was scheduled to address boda boda operators and small-scale traders at Kondele.
Ruto is in Nyanza to sell his bottom-up economic model and drum up support for his 2022 presidential bid.
Addressing UDA supporters at Suzanna Owiyo Arts Centre in Kisumu West constituency on his first day of the three-day tour, the DP tore into the BBI drive. He said the initiative was meant to reintroduce the imperial presidency.
In a thinly veiled attack on the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila, Ruto said the Jubilee administration lost its development agenda following the truce.
To the leaders who organised this stone-throwing we have witnessed today, shame on them.
On his way to Kondele, the DP addressed roadside rallies at Ojola, and Kamas-Jua Kali area.
At 12pm, police cleared the way, enabling the DP to access the venue. In a five-minute address, Ruto condemned the ugly standoff, saying he was determined to liberate Kisumu from the culture of stone-throwing.
"To the leaders who organised this stone-throwing we have witnessed today, shame on them," he said.
He said Kisumu was part of Kenya and nobody should be stopped from having a meeting there.
Making his speech amidst tight security punctuated by cat-and-mouse games between the youths and the police, Ruto gave out Sh2 million to small-scale traders at Kondele.
He gave another Sh2 million to boda boda operators in the area and asked local leaders to assist those who are vulnerable.
Ruto acknowledged the neglect and marginalisation the area had been subjected to for decades by past regimes.
Addressing UDA grassroots leaders who converged at Suzanna Owiyo Arts Centre in Kisumu West constituency, Ruto said, "Leaders at my level haven't taken time to engage you and listen to you."
We will not come up with plans without consultations with the grassroots.
He said he was seeking to reverse this by making sure that he engages the residents of Nyanza in economic discussions.
"I appreciate the efforts put in place so far since the Naivasha meeting that was meant to discuss these issues," he said.
Ruto said politics and governance are too important to be left to politicians alone.
He said he decided to change his approach to engage the grassroots directly because he is keen on participatory politics.
"We will not come up with plans without consultations with the grassroots," he said.
He pledged that his government will revive the ailing sugar sector, fix fishing and invest in small- and medium-size enterprises.
"We have a serious issue in the sugar sector. We have a deficit while farmers are not treated well," he said.
He said challenges of infrastructure and poor condition of factories must be addressed.
The DP said it was regrettable that despite 15 years of attempts at privatisation of sugar factories, the region was yet to get out of the woods.
"It is true we have a problem of political good will in trying to fix the problem facing the sector," he said.
He said in some other regions where tea is grown, farmers earn billions.
"We need to see how farming communities from Nyanza can also earn what the tea farmers earn. We need a candid discussion on this. We must get a way to ensure this happen," he said.
-Edited by SKanyara