Let your children lead protests, Ruto tells Azimio leaders

President William Ruto has once again hit out at the opposition following the conclusion of three-day anti-government protests.

Speaking in Vihiga County during a development tour, Ruto told the opposition leaders to stop using the people's children in protests and to instead tag along their own children.

The president dared Azimio leader Raila Odinga and his co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka to recall their children from the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) to lead the protests.

“If they want protests they should first recall their children who are in the EALA and put their wives and children in the frontline of the protests,” said Ruto who was in the county to commission the Vihiga Last Mile Water Supply Project in Mbale.

Kennedy Musyoka Kalonzo and Winnie Odinga are both members of EALA.

“Why do they want the children of others to be out for Maandamano yet their children are safe at home?” posed Ruto.

According to Ruto, Kenya is a democratic state and all Kenyans want is room to carry out their business but the protests were denying them that.

He argues that the Azimio protests are not issue-based and that they are being used to destroy property and cause unrest, shedding innocent blood in the process.

The reaction by Ruto comes a day after he commended the police "for handling the protests well".

This is despite lobby groups saying that 30 people have been killed by the police since the protests began in March 2023.