Silas Jakakimba, an ally of ODM leader Raila Odinga has dismissed William Ruto’s bottom-up economic approach which he is using to endear himself to the ordinary Kenyans ahead of the 2022 General Election.
According to Jakakimba, who is Raila’s former senior advisor, Ruto’s Economic model is meant to loot the ordinary Kenyan as opposed t helping them.
“Fact is, the so-called bottom-up model being peddled around by TangaTanga (political faction allied to Wiliam Ruto) is a strategy to loot from the bottom to the top – basically a twisted philosophy to loot Mama Mboga (grocery vendor) to fund grand corruption once again for the next five years,” he said.
While appearing as a panelist on KTN News on Thursday, June 17, Jakakimba said that Uhuru-and Raila’s handshake has accelerated economic development in the country.
He insisted that the handshake has been keen on correcting the ills that happened in the Jubilee government’s first term, before William Ruto’s place in government was technically taken by opposition chief Raila Odinga.
In his bottom-up approach, DP Ruto aims at empowering the common Kenyan as a way of accelerating economic growth.
Ruto’s economic goals are focused on Small and Medium Enterprises; a unique approach from the trickle-down economic model, which focuses on large enterprises as the way to a better economy.
He believes that Mkokoteni guys (cart pushers), Mama mboga’s(kale vendors), Mjengo people (casual construction workers), and others in the hustlers’ category are the answer to Kenya’s economic woes, hence his Hustler Nation narrative.
“We have done the economics of trickle-down for a long time and it benefits only a few people. This time, we are going to do the economics of bottom-up, from the bottom going upwards, starting with the ordinary people,” Ruto stated earlier.
However, his empowerment of hustlers has attracted criticism from opponents in ODM.
When Ruto started the wheelbarrow campaigns, Raila Odinga called him out for empowering people in the wrong manner.
Raila said, that by giving people wheelbarrows, Ruto wants his supporters to keep wallowing in poverty.
