Deputy President William Ruto is in the spot for the ongoing violent operation to remove Mau Forest settlers from their farms. The Deputy President had in the run-up to the last elections accused former Prime Minister Raila Odinga of evicting Mau Forest dwellers inhumanly.
Surprisingly, while the eviction in 2009 had been orderly and delays started when treasury, then headed by President Uhuru, then minister of Finance, Ruto led a charged anti-Odinga campaign which laid all blame to the humanitarian and health problems which followed the eviction on Odinga.
The anti-Raila onslaught in the Rift Valley would pay off massively in 2013 with DP Ruto and President Uhuru – they who had connived to make Mau a humanitarian crisis for political gain – being elected with a landslide vote to parliament.
However, the Deputy President now seem to be facing the same political script in the Rift Valley with accusations  that his office – which inherited the Mau rehabilitation project from the office of the Prime Minster – is conducting the current evictions.
Already, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has condemned the evictions, terming them ‘barbaric’. Sources indicate over 6000 homes were burnt during the arson which is expected to continue.
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