How Ruto Is Becoming A Dictator- Martha Karua

Karua poked holes in the current regime, citing the huge number of high-profile cases of whatever nature being withdrawn...

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Nov 18, 2022 - 08:46
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How Ruto Is Becoming A Dictator- Martha Karua
A collage of Martha Karua and President William Ruto during past addresses. /VIRALTEAKE

Azimio la Umoja principal, Martha Karua, has expressed fears that President William Ruto's administration has clear signs and intentions of ruling in a dictatorial style.

Speaking on Thursday, November 17, during a human rights forum organised by Uganda's opposition leaders in Nairobi, Karua poked holes in the current regime, citing the huge number of high-profile cases of whatever nature being withdrawn as a root cause of the problems that might affect the regime in the future.

“I see the making of a dictator in Kenya. Cases are being withdrawn, be they fraud, murder, or whatever, are all being withdrawn.

"Something is cooking in Kenya and this is the making of dictatorship,” she said. 

Former Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Alliance running mate, Martha Karua. /FILE

Karua questioned the grounds on which the cases were being withdrawn, noting that they targeted prominent people only and not ordinary Kenyans as well.

"We have seen land-grabbing cases and affidavits being sworn saying there was no land-grabbing. How comes all these cases are the people in power, not the ordinary people?" she posed.

Karua, who was Raila Odinga's running mate in the August 9 elections, claimed that the withdrawal of those kinds of cases might also indicate that the country's independence of key institutions was being compromised.

"It is your silence that is helping dictatorship to thrive in East Africa and in our country, and if continue this way, we are going to be submerged by violation of human rights," she added.

Warning that the silence would turn the Head of State into a dictator worse than the country has ever seen, Karua promised not to keep quiet while calling out the Kenya Kwanza government's conduct of its mandate until justice prevails.

“Our silence will make a dictator worse than we have seen. I will not be silenced. I am always inspired by Juliani’s song, “Sitanyamaza (sitasimama) maovu yakitawala”. (I will not shut up when evil is thriving). As long as I have breath, I will raise my voice whenever necessary,” she said. 

She was speaking during the Uganda Human Rights Accountability Conference hosted by the Kenya Human Rights Commission in Nairobi where key leaders from Uganda, including National Union Platform leader (NUP), Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (popularly known as Bobi Wine) and People’s Front for Transition (PFT), Kizza Besigye, were in attendance. The event was held in commemoration of the victims of the November 2020 police and military brutality in Uganda that left many injured and dead.  

Referring to remarks made by Bobi Wine who said Uganda’s democratic space was so corrupt that it was their dream to be like Kenya, Karua noted that Kenya's democratic problems were just like any other country on the planet.

“There is a general sense of decay in democracy across the world and East Africa, including Kenya, is no different. We must raise our voices, and I raise mine in solidarity with Uganda and East Africa until every form of oppression, lawlessness and state capture is done away with in our region,” she said.  

Besigye on his part called upon Ugandans to assert their will as citizens and decide for themselves who should be their leader and who should not, further warning that their silence would only serve to worsen the violence and brutality meted out on them by the state security personnel.

He specifically criticised President Yoweri Museveni's relentless rule that has caused the deaths of many Ugandans saying it was time the dictatorial rule came to an end. The 78-year-old has been president since January 29, 1986.

“Leaders must do what the people want and if they cannot, the people must have the power to push them out. Accountability happens when people have power, not when leaders are good,” said Mr Besigye.  

“It is sad that no leader has ever been ushered in or out of power in Uganda by the people but only through bombs. We must give the real power to the people." Bobi Wine on his part stated that the purpose of the Ugandan leaders' visit to Kenya was to open up on human rights that they couldn't talk about in their country and voiced Ugandans' demands for their right to be human beings and to be treated as such.

From left: Kizza Besigye, Gen Mugisha Muntu, Winnie Kiiza, Bobi Wine and Martha Karua during the Uganda Human Rights Accountability Conference at Ufungamano House in Nairobi on November 17, 2022. /DAILY NATION