ODM leader Raila Odinga on Saturday ignited his war with Deputy President William Ruto over hefty church donations.
In video footage that emerged on Citizen TV, Raila indirectly scolded the DP saying his hefty donations will not grant him direct entry to heaven.
“Kuna wengine kila wiki wanatoa harambee milioni mbili, milioni tano. Mtu moja anatembea na pesa kwa gunia anaanza kusema askofu ameniita mimi kwa kanisa yake nikuje nigawe pesa ya mungu at yeye anafanya investments mbinguni. Mungu haezi kuhongwa,” he said.
Loosely translated: “There are some people every week give donations on Harambees to a sum of about 2 to 5 million. One person carries a huge amount of money in sacks and starts saying that he has been invited to give some donations in the name of investing in heaven. But God can not be bribed.”
The remarks come at a time when the DP is under czar criticism following allegations that his office played a key role in underdealings pitting the former sports CS Rashid Echesa.
Senate minority leader James Orengo who accompanied Raila at the same function called on the DP to issue a statement on the matter saying the issue ought not to be taken lightly.
According to Orengo, it was not easy for someone to access the office of the DP for such activities without key members of his staff being privy to the matter.
The Senator demanded the DP to clear the air on the matter or else be deemed an accomplice to the fraudulent activity.
However, Ruto dismissed the allegation terming it as a smear campaign choreographed by his competitors in a bid to tarnish his name.
The staff of interest to the police investigators include security officials, secretaries and aides serving in the office of the DP.
Police officers believe that the staff had information on the conception and execution of the deal.
“They must have known something. Again the complainant has named some of the staff. We also recovered the fake tender papers from the office,” said a senior officer aware of the investigations as quoted by the standard.
Echesa was on Friday charged with forgery over the deals and released on Sh1 million bail. He is however still in police custody as the police complete their investigations.
He was arrested alongside Daniel Otieno Omondi, Kennedy Oyoo Mboya and Clifford Okoth.
The Former CS is said to have used the Office of the Deputy President and the signature of Defence Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma to cut the fraudulent multi-billion-shilling deal to supply military surveillance equipment and guns.
The complainant, who is an American based in Poland, told the police Echesa approached them through e-mail, introducing himself as a Kenyan politician who would hook them up with a lucrative Sh39.5 billion tender.