Deputy President William Ruto. [Photo/ Citizen TV]
The key difference between the Jubilee administration and the National Super Alliance (NASA) politicians is that the Raila Odinga-led Opposition only dreams of development projects while President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration makes them a reality, Deputy President William Ruto has hinted. This comes after NASA politicians, led by presidential candidate Raila Odinga, claimed that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project was conceived during the Grand Coalition Government, during former President Mwai Kiabaki’s second term. “The Standard Gauge Railway , for example, has been in the works for the past 30 years,” DP Ruto said, explaining that many people have wonderful plans — which he described as being of no use to anybody until action is taken. NASA politicians have been asking the Jubilee administration not to take credit for the historic SGR project from Nairobi to Mombasa, saying Raila, who was prime minister between 2008 and 2012, also took part in coming up with the idea of the railway line. In response to that, DP Ruto said Jubilee admits that there are other people who can come up with good ideas.“We appreciate that we do not have the monopoly of ideas,” the former Eldoret North MP said. “The whole difference is not the plan, not the pledge… it is the doing that makes the difference. That’s the difference between Jubilee and others.”“There are some who came up with good ideas and it is our responsibility (to implement) we are running the government of Kenya,” he added. The DP explained that it is foolish for elected officials to come into government and throw away development projects started by previous leaders. He said the Jubilee administration should be measured by what they did about implementing programmes they had, completing projects that were there and formulating projects for the future. Using this criteria, the DP said, the Uhuru Kenyatta-led government had done very well.