William Ruto’s thoughts on the Luhya community are rigid, limiting, and insulting.

Recently the country witnessed blunt talk from a person who is second in command in the country in everything and respect! The talk was abrasive, demeaning, coarse in manner or disposition, it was a totally useless one from the deputy president of the Republic of Kenya! How could he do that? How could that even happen?

How could he put such a low-class statement together just to describe an entire community! It’s unfortunate that the deputy president of Kenya can use this kind of poor words to describe the Luhya community, a community that boasts of high-quality people, people who have successfully succeeded in their various fields and subfields. Mr deputy president, is that what you think, Luhyas are? What is your role, job, or scope of work under the constitution? Under the constitution, do you want the community to remind you of your oath?

Why would you in your high most authority, the seat of power in the republic, culminate your thoughts into what critical thinkers would call low train hitting thought! What do you take a noble community like Luhya for? As a leader in this government, is it not your core mandate to treat all communities in Kenya equal? Why would you play poker and partisan politics with the lives of a Luhya people?

It’s now obvious, your endless trips to Luhya Nation has had nothing to do with empowering the community but to enslave it for your own selfish and political agendas! It has long been coming, long been foreseen by the community, the community saw your velvet-gloved machinations way before you said the community runs to you for handouts. In another sickening example, the moment you had an opportunity to appoint a Luhya into the cabinet, you chose to reduce the community to a public laughing stock by appointing a school- drop out, a man without any tangible quality of professional qualification, just to have your foolery fulfilled.

This was at the expense of high quantity and quality and qualified professionals, men, and women, from the Luhya community oozing with massive and masterful qualifications. Did your stooge in the cabinet last? Did he ridicule the community? Yes, he did. Was he fired? Yes, he was. Did the community lose? Yes, it lost.

The likes of Dr. Bonny Khalwale, Benjamin Washali, Didmus Barasa, Dan Wanyama, Ben Shinali, Malulu Injendi, who skirt around you cannot hold a candle for the Luhya community! These folks have no focal point to drive a conversation among the Luhya community! If you have been busy with them believing that they will convince the Luhya community to vote for you, then that promise is a whole joke, a facade, and an ice cream on the Lubao market!

You have given handouts, but how these handouts will translate into votes, that’s a talk for another day! Trust me, the Luhya community is solidly behind one of their own, it is not business as usual! With Mudavadi on the ballot in 2022, what makes you think because of handouts, the Luhya community will leave their own and vote for you!

With elders like Francis Atwoli and political leaders like Moses Wetangula solidly behind Mudavadi, how will Ruto get votes from the Luhya community! The community is very much disturbed by Mr. Rutos’s utterances in Khwisero Kakamega county and at an opportune time, they will definitely remind him that they are not cheap! The government is not supposed to bribe its citizens or a section of its citizens with handouts, or promote discrimination policy in order to benefit from its votes! Luhya community must reject the deputy president, the meta-frames he has about the community are demeaning!