Ruto pledges to make open security tenders if elected to thwart corruption

Deputy President William Ruto has promised to open up the security tendering system for military equipment if the Kenya Kwanza coalition is elected to office on the August 9 general polls.

According to the deputy president, corruption is thriving in the security tendering system questioning why the tendering could not be done in the open. He further said it is pointless to make the security tendering secret yet security officers walk in the streets with guns.

“Why can’t it be done in open tender? These security secret things is where corruption thrives, the guns are all over in the streets carried by police officers what is the big deal anyway? They are classified as security purchases so a gun being sold for Sh20,000 is being sold at Sh60,000,” Ruto said.

The DP was speaking speaking in Nairobi Baptist Church on Wednesday during a meeting with the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya.

Deputy President William Ruto campaigning in Busia on Saturday May 7, 2022 Pulse Live Kenya

Ruto further said security in country was jeopardized because the budget allocation made to the police was linked to the office of the president which made it hard for the Inspector General to get the funds released. The DP said he would get the Inspector General of police his own budget as well as an accounting officer which will ease the job in the security department.

“We must get the IG his own budget as the constitution says it is an independent office yet today they don’t have that. When I asked, they told me you know you can’t give somebody a gun and money. So if they have guns you don’t give them money so that they don’t cause trouble,” the DP said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, DP Ruto meet eye to eye in 1st Cabinet meeting in 1 year Pulse Live Kenya

On Thursday May 12, the deputy president and president Uhuru Kenyatta met eye to eye for the first time in a Cabinet meeting at State House.

Reports from the meeting say a section of the cabinet secretaries attacked the deputy president who they said kept criticizing the same government he was serving.