‘Where is the Ruto money?’ DP responds after Father Pesa, Mathare w***n attacked over ‘generous donations’

Deputy President William Ruto does not dish out money to everyone he meets at a key function organised by him, the DP’s communications representative, Emmanuel Talam, says.

Talam’s remarks come a day after Kisumu-based preacher, John Pesa of the Holy Ghost Coptic Church, alleged that he is receiving threats from people, who want “a share of the money he received from Ruto after visiting the DP at his Sugoi home last Monday”.

Ruto had organised an interdenominational service presided over by clergymen from Nyanza.

Upon returning to Kisumu, Pesa said on Wednesday that he received phone calls from unidentified people, who vowed to waylay him and “steal the windfall he had been given by Ruto”.

“I feel my life is in danger after being threatened," Pesa said on Wednesday, October 14, during a press briefing at the Holy Ghost Coptic Church located in Kanyakwar Village in Kisumu East on the Kisumu-Kakamega Road.

"Ruto is a hustler, who has no money. He did not give me money," added Pesa.

The preacher’s woes come a few days after a middle-aged Nairobi woman’s home was raided after she met Ruto on Friday, October 9.

Investigations had been launched to establish the identity of the attackers amid reports that the robbery could be as a result of a false hope that the victim, Rodah Ingashani, might have left Ruto’s Karen residence with a lot of money.

Two days before the attack, Rodah had posted a photo of her and Ruto on her Facebook page, which attracted a lot of views and comments. She, however, pulled it down in unclear circumstances.

Three hooded robbers, all in heavy jackets and wearing masks, raided the house of Ingashani in Mathare 2 and shot and seriously injured her teenage son before robbing the family of Ksh18,000 and electronic gadgets and phones all valued at around Ksh85,000.

“I suspect the robbers thought we had a lot of money as they insisted that we give them more,” Ingashani told People Daily on Monday, October 12.

The mother-of-one works at the office of the Mlango Kubwa MCA and says she had escorted six people from the Ward to the DP Ruto’s residence.

“We were eight people from Mlango Kubwa and contrary to what many believe, we were not given any money,” she said.

She said before the robbers left they robbed them of Ksh18,000, TV set, home theatre, four mobile phones all valued at Ksh85,000.

“They had shot my son, Kevin Ambutsi, aged 17, when he tried to raise the alarm,” she said.

The teenager was taken to MSF hospital along Juja Road and later transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for specialised treatment.

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) visited the scene and recorded statements from the family members.

Police recovered a spent cartridge of calibre 9mm which will be subjected to ballistic examination.

“No one has, so far, been arrested in connection to the attack,” a senior officer told People Daily.

And, now DP Ruto, through the communications director at his office, Emmanuel Talam, says he does not give handouts to people who meet him as believed by a section of Kenyans.

“It is not true that the Deputy President dishes out money to key attendees of his events. That is a false belief a section of Kenyans have. It is about time the belief gets debunked,” Talam told K24 Digital on phone on Thursday, October 15.

“For instance, today (Thursday, October 15, 2020), the DP is in Nyamira for an empowerment tour.  At the end of the day, he would have come into contact with 10,000 people. Do you think it is possible to give handouts to all those people? It is a stupid belief that Ruto is generous to a fault with his finances. We know the people in Government who are quick to dangle bundles of cash so as to woo desperate Kenyans; one of the culprits is a senior Cabinet minister.”