- Ruto attacked his boss in his own (Uhuru’s) Mt Kenya backyard where he camped for the second consecutive day on Sunday.
- He was in Murang’a country where he attended two church services before travelling around the county, making several stopovers.
Image: WILLIAM RUTO/TWITTER
Deputy President William Ruto on Sunday said President Uhuru Kenyatta's urging Jubilee supports to back Raila Odinga is an insult to the party.
Speaking in Uhuru's Mt Kenya backyard, he said the President had overlooked dedicated Jubilee supporters in favour of his former nemesis, ODM leader Raila Odinga.
The DP said urging Jubilee supporters back Raila for the presidency shows contempt of his own party and its loyalists.
He was camping in Uhuru's turf for the second consecutive day.
“You are telling me that all of us, eight million, we have formed the government twice, that there is not even one amongst us who can lead us?” Ruto asked in Kigumo.
“Really? No. No. Isn’t that a big contempt? Isn’t that an insult? That amongst all of us, eight million people, we can’t get a person who can lead and that they have to hire another person?” he added.
Ruto was in Murang’a country where he attended two church services before traveling around the county, making several stopovers.
On Saturday, the DP camped in Thika Town and Gatundu North constituency in the President’s home county of Kiambu.
Uhuru and Ruto are bitterly alienated since the head of state shook hands with Raila soon after the heated 2017 general election.
Uhuru has been giving signals that he prefers Raila as his successor in 2022 to his own deputy president.
Jubilee and ODM currently are crafting an alliance; reports indicate the parties would front Raila as their joint presidential candidate.
Ruto, in his charm offensive in Muranga, termed Raila a distractor whom he claims rocked the ruling Jubilee party and stalled the government’s Big Four agenda.
He claimed that the former Prime Minister diverted the President and his government’s attention from the Big Four to BBI.
Ruto said if he is elected, he will 'revive' the Big Four and pump Sh100 billion into it to create jobs, ensure food security, establish universal health coverage and revitalise manufacturing.
The DP added that his administration will also set aside another Sh50 billion annually to support small and micro enterprises as envisioned under Big Four.
“He (Raila) is telling us to first change the Constitution [under BBI] and create positions for leaders like Prime Minister and two deputy prime ministers, he said.
Ruto vouched for his bottom-up economic model, saying it will empower the masses and spur growth.
He was accompanied by UDA secretary general Veronica Maina and a host of MPs from the region.
They include Senator Irungu Kangata, MPs Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu), Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira), Alice Wahome (Kandara) and James Gakuya (Embakasi North),
Earlier, the DP attended a church service AIPCA church in Muthithi ward where he preached the unity of the country.
While describing himself as a man on a mission yo unite Kenyans through his UDA party, Ruto said that the country’s politics has been skewed for a long time.
He said the politics has been designed to exclude other parts of the country, a scenario he said, has led to division and sometimes clashes.
“You saw me the other day when I was in Nyanza. It is because for a long time, politics has been designed to sideline other Kenyans,” he said.
“We want to remove that kind of politics,” he said.
Ruto that UDA is an alternative vehicle that will unite all Kenyans after Jubilee, which he said once had similar aspirations, got into an "accident".
“Just as we did in Jubilee and brought all Kenyans together and planned development, our party got some accident, that is why we formed an alternative party," the Deputy President said, referring to UDA.
(Edited by V. Graham)