Popular Mama Mboga Declares Stance On Being Used & Dumped By Ruto

She was speaking on Wednesday, June 7 in a video shared by Interior Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dennis Itumbi

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Jun 7, 2023 - 16:28 Updated: Jun 7, 2023 - 16:31
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Popular Mama Mboga Declares Stance On Being Used & Dumped By Ruto
President William Ruto arrives at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa for the Presidential debate on July 26, 2022, alongside popular 'Mama Mboga', Pauline Waithera. /FILE

Popular Mama Mboga Pauline Waithera clarified her claims as captured in a headline report by the Nation Media Group (NMG) on Monday, June 5 that she was "used and dumped" by the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party led by President William Ruto.

She was speaking on Wednesday, June 7 in a video shared by Interior Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dennis Itumbi in another response to the article published in NMG's newspapers Daily Nation and Taifa Leo.

While she claimed that the story is false, Waithera revealed that she was approached by an unknown person at her avocado and banana stall and took photos of her, without asking for her permission, let alone not leaving behind his contacts with her.

"First of all there is someone who came here where I was standing and took photos of me without my consent, yet I don't know him. He told me that he had taken my photo now and...I asked him why he took my picture and posted it everywhere, and he left.

"I asked him why he took me a photo and did not leave me his contact. He did well to give me his number and his name, and I saved it," she explained, demonstrating that the number was saved on her phone.

Waithera expressed her anger on the reports that alleged that Kenya Kwanza-allied leaders were using her popularity to gain political mileage.

“I am very annoyed, I wonder who called him and said I have a problem, Ruto is not a child.

"He should have abused me instead of President Ruto because he doesn’t know my relationship with Ruto and why I like him,” said Waithira.

She further noted that President Ruto gave her Ksh300,000 in 2022 after she accompanied him to Bomas where he was presenting his papers to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for clearance to contest the presidential election.

This, she said, had enabled her to take care of her child's schooling and eliminate the danger of spending nights hungry and without shelter.

“Through President Ruto, my child has never been kicked out of school, I have never slept hungry or my house closed over rent.

"When someone says Ruto does not help me that is nonsense. Ruto gave me Ksh300,000 when we were at Bomas,” she added.

The regional media house claimed in its newspaper that the 70-year-old lamented that despite being used to popularise the UDA outfit during the campaign period leading up to the 2022 general elections on August 9, she is still living in poverty.

She claimed that at the moment, none of the powerful people she was dining with at the time is picking up her calls, regretting that she was used as a magnet to attract the informal residents to vote for the President William Ruto-led outfit.

“I am very angry with politicians who used me for political gains during campaigns and have now abandoned me.

"I was used to illustrate how poor people will benefit from the Ruto government through bottom-up but even after they won the presidential election, I was not even invited to Kasarani Stadium during the inauguration of President Ruto and his deputy. I spent the whole day crying at home, people were laughing at me," she complained to the newspaper.

The septuagenarian who sells avocados at Kang'angi market in Kiambu County revealed her realisation that UDA used the tactic to get the poor people to vote for Ruto en masse in the hope that things would get better.

Itumbi, however, in a statement, noted that Waithera was given considerable support for her business, including Ksh300,000 to stock her shop.

Later on June 5, Eugene Wamalwa, the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-Kenya) leader, stood by Daily Nation's move to publish the expose in its newspaper which drew uproar across the country.

Side by side of ICT CAS Dennis Itumbi and Nation Media Group offices in Nairobi. /VIRALTEAKE