William Ruto, Time To Step Aside

Let me add my voice to the intensifying call for William Ruto, Kenya's Minister for Agriculture, to step aside over the maize scandal in the ministry he heads. Accumulating evidence suggests that tycoons and other businessmen allied to him have benefited in corrupt ways from the sale of maize meant for poor and starving Kenyans.

Particularly troublesome have been the claims that his friends and/or business/political associates have made windfall profits from the plight of ordinary citizens. It is alleged in various circles that they recently "procured" thousands of bags of maize at a give-away price from the state-owned National Cereals and Produce Board, without moving the consignment an inch from NCPB premises (One beneficiary, recently appointed by Ruto to a reconstituted NCPB board, was reportedly allocated a whopping 600,000 bags). They then "sold" the produce at inflated prices to millers, who incurred additional cost to transport the maize from NCPB themselves. The millers, of course, eventually passed their cost to the consumers.

Ruto, the erstwhile Youth For KANU '92 activist, sees nothing wrong in any of this -- including why millers were not allowed to buy the maize directly from NCPB -- and claims that it is "a scandal that never was." He has publicly sworn not to resign. Meanwhile, ODM, his political party (he is one of its two Deputy Chairmen), has wrapped its protective if half-hearted arms around him, claiming that he is the victim of NSIS (National Security and Intelligence Services) campaign of character assasination.

If Ruto will not resign, then he must be made to. In fact, the heat must turn on Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister and ODM leader. An increasingly agitated public, which is aware that Ruto is probably also among those in Waki's envelope who are bound for the War Crimes Court at the Hague, will expect Raila to write to the President (as stipulated in the Grand Coalition accord) asking that Ruto be relieved of his duties, at least for now. If Raila does not do so, very soon, then the public's nagging perception that he himself is soft on corruption will only grow.