210 Kenyans conned Sh2,300 each with fake DP Ruto appointment – VIDEO
More than 200 Isiolo residents are counting losses after they were allegedly conned by a man who had promised to help them meet Deputy President William Ruto in Nairobi to discuss the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report.
The 210 furious residents claimed that they had paid Sh2,300 each to cater for transport and t-shirts on Sunday evening ahead of the journey slated for Monday morning.
It, however, dawned on them that they had been conned by the man identified as Peter Mwangi after waiting for six hours without the t-shirts being delivered. There were also no buses to pick them.
The residents said Mr Mwangi had told them the meeting was to discuss the recently released BBI report while strategising on how they would become Dr Ruto’s campaigners in his 2022 presidential bid.
David Muthamia, one of the victims, said Mwangi had also promised them that they would each get an allowance of Sh10,000 after the meeting.
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“It was a nice deal and we never thought it would turn out to be fraud. We were to discuss how to support the DP in 2022 campaigns according to Mwangi,” said Mr Muthamia adding “The man approached us and told us that meeting the Deputy President would transform our lives.”
Ms Joyce Mwari, who had borrowed the money from a friend, said they had met the man on Sunday evening and were promised that the Ruto-branded t-shirts would have been delivered on Monday morning before embarking on the Nairobi journey.
She said they were to leave at 4am and upon enquiry, Mwangi kept insisting that the four hired school buses were being fuelled at a petrol station in the nearby Isiolo town.
“We have been waiting here for more than five hours hoping that the man would turn up but seems it is a scam,” said the agitated businesswoman.
The group later reported the incident at Isiolo Police Station and called on police to track down the suspect and help them recover the stolen cash amounting to Sh483, 000.
“We are appealing to police to hunt down the suspect for conning us and tarnishing the Deputy President’s name,” Esther Makena said.
Most of the victims refused to speak to journalists out of embarrassment of being conned.
Contacted, Mr Mwangi claimed that he had been contracted by a welfare group called “Power” to mobilize residents from the county to meet Dr Ruto but the national chairperson who was to secure the appointment later went missing after receiving money from all the 47 counties.
He further noted that they had even paid for the buses and refuted claims of conning the residents of their money claiming that one of them was the one collecting the cash.