President William Ruto has unleashed one of his sharpest public attacks yet against opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka, escalating an already simmering political rivalry into open warfare.
Speaking at State House during a meeting with a delegation of clergy from Bungoma, Ruto ripped into critics of his affordable housing programme with barely concealed fury.
But the target of the barrage was unmistakable.
“Then you hear someone saying he will stop the housing levy and affordable housing once elected president.” That is a hare-brained idea from a stupid person,” Ruto said, his voice rising as clerics sat silently before him.
Then came the dagger.
“I asked him the other day, ‘You have been in leadership for 50 years. You have been cabinet secretary for Education, Foreign Affairs, Health and Trade, but you could not even construct the road to your home.
Now if someone cannot construct the road leading to his home, how do you expect him to have the brain to help Kenyans?”
The remarks, dripping with contempt and political mockery, immediately triggered a storm online, with clips of the speech spreading rapidly across TikTok, Facebook and X as supporters and critics clashed over the president’s tone.
Decades in government
Though Ruto never mentioned Kalonzo by name, the description matched the veteran opposition figure almost point for point – a man who has spent decades in government, serving in senior ministerial roles and, later, as Kenya’s vice president.
The attack lays bare the growing hostility between the two camps as the battle lines for 2027 begin to harden.
“Nlikua naona jamaa mwingine wa 50 years kwenye uongozi akisema ati kazi yake ya kwanza ni kuondoa affordable housing. Mtu mjinga na akili kidogo,” President Ruto fires at Kalonzo Musyoka pic.twitter.com/BwhZvy8FyM
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) May 16, 2026
Kalonzo has recently intensified criticism of Ruto’s economic policies, particularly the Housing Levy, which the opposition argues has become a painful deduction for already strained workers.
Ruto, however, has staked much of his political legacy on affordable housing, portraying it as both an economic engine and a social equaliser.
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At State House, the president defended the programme with the swagger of a man unwilling to retreat.
For him, stopping the levy would amount to sabotaging jobs, construction, and urban renewal.
To his rivals, it is yet another costly burden in a country battling rising living expenses.
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