Deputy President William Ruto has
issued a warning to unnamed individuals whom he accused of
mobilising his 2022 presidential campaigns behind his back.
The DP also told politicians to leave his name out of "their shenanigans" as he is working to support the President to ensure that Jubilee's Big Four agenda succeeds.
Through his secretary of communications
David Mugonyi on Thursday, the DP asked such
individuals to use their energy more
productively.
"At no time has the Deputy President approved, canvassed
or engaged in any other form of preparation for a presidential or another campaign after the last presidential election," Mugonyi said.
He added that he(Ruto) does not, and has never 'approved, consented to or supported haphazard, sketchy, messy, premature political canvassing.'
"The Deputy President, therefore, asks those running noisy charades and mock-campaigns to use their energy more productively while those funding the same to find a better use for their resources," Mugonyi said.
Mugonyi said the DP is
a democrat who believes that campaigning must be done at the appropriate time, in an organised, systematic manner.
"...that gives candidates the opportunity to have quality engagement with the people within a political party and based on issues and policies," he said.
Ruto's statement comes at a time when President Uhuru Kenyatta has been urging politicians to keep off politics and concentrate on delivering on development.
However, his words have been falling on deaf ears with some politicians from his Mt. Kenya backyard already plotting on how to undercut Ruto's bid.
Uhuru and Ruto came together in 2011 ahead of the 2013
elections where they successfully vied for the Presidency under the Jubilee Coalition.
The president is on record saying that the Jubilee plan was for him to serve as President for 10 years and Ruto to take over from him for another two terms.
But former Jubilee vice-chairman David Murathe, a close Uhuru ally, has relentlessly hit out at Ruto over his 2022 presidential bid asking him to retire with the President.
He has gone as far as threatening to go to the Supreme Court to try and lock him out of the race.
The onslaught began on December 26, 2018, during the Maragoli Cultural Festival, where Murathe said
alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2022.
He said Jubilee had not made any MoU to support the Deputy President in 2022.
Murathe struck again on January 5 during the funeral of Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju's brother.
He said Ruto and Uhuru had served as a pair and should both retire in 2022.
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