How Ruto uses son to steal public resources

• Nov 1, 2021

By John Kamau, Editor, thingira.org (Email:thingiragema@gmail.com)

Like father, like son. True to the saying, Deputy President William Ruto’s eldest son, Nick, has become a good disciple of his thieving father, by dipping his hands in public resources jar.  

And the entity he has been using, with the blessings of his father, to steal public resources is Koilel Farm Limited.

This company, owned by the DP's son, Nick was illegally awarded a Sh175 million tender to supply beef to Kenya Meat Commission (KMC).

The firm was to supply 10,000 cattle to KMC from Ruto’s farm in Taita Taveta before the dirty scheme was uncovered by the government.

President Uhuru Kenyatta then moved fast to safeguard public resources by moving KMC from the Agriculture ministry to the military.

The registered directors of Koilel Farm Limited are Nick and his mother, Rachel Chebet Kimeto.

It is to be recalled that the same firm was paid Sh20.4 million for supplying 11,844 non-existent bags of maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).

Interestingly, Koilel Farm Limited was registered on October 2, 2015 in the name of the Deputy President’s wife and son.

Nick, sources revealed, is the front in Ruto’s syndicate behind the recurrent stealing of hundreds of cattle in Northern Kenya counties, disguised as age old cattle rustling.
He leads a cartel which Ruto carefully put together over the years to execute cattle robbery missions with military precision, leaving behind no trail of their activities.

In fact, if you asked a random Pokot who stole their 500 heads of cattle, they will tell you it their neighbours, the Turkana, which is not usually the case.
The stolen cattle, sources added, are taken to one of the DP’s expansive farms, for hiding and fattening, in preparation for sale to the Kenya Meat Commission before breaks were halted for such sale at KMC.
When he was doing business with KMC, Ruto would sell the beef at Sh350 per kg which looks like an extremely fair price, even lower than the market rates, but the reality is he had already made handsome profits, considering that he never raised or bought the cattle in the first place.
One of the hideouts for stole cattle is Ruto’s Taita Taveta farm.

The has been hit by controversy following revelations that Ruto was keeping some 10,000 heads of cattle there, in readiness for sale to KMC, through Koilel Farms Ltd, a company registered under his son.
It is this plot by the DP, who had even obtained an LPO from KMC, which prompted President Uhuru Kenyatta to move the parastatal from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Defence, in a bid to safeguard taxpayers’ money. 

Two years back, Ruto's family was being investigated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over its supply of maize to the National Cereals and Produce Board.

The EACC wrote to the Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund stating that 62 firms or entities were “of particular interest to EACC enquiries”.

One of the 62 entities listed was Koilel Farm Limited which was registered on October 2, 2015 in the name of the Deputy President William Ruto’s wife Rachel Chebet Kimeto and son Nicholas Kipkurgat Ruto.

According to the EACC list, Koilel Fam was paid Sh20.8 million for supplying 11,844 bags of maize to the NCPB.

The list does not state when the maize was supplied.

At the time, Ruto’s representatives confirmed supplying maize to the NCPB.

Kipchumba Karori, the lawyer for Koilel Farm, was quoted saying Ruto had 430 acres of maize in Ilula, Moiben constituency and had supplied about 6,000 bags to NCPB.

However, the said maize farm in Moiben does not exist.