DP Ruto wanted to topple me: President Kenyatta tell elders
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday revealed deep seated secrets ailing his administration and the bitter fallout with his deputy William Ruto accusing the latter of masterminding a ploy to topple him from power.
While addressing the over 3000 Gìkùyù elders and his loyalist elected leaders at State House where he hosted them, President Kenyatta said his principal assistant wanted to remove his from power before his tenure lapses through impeachment and sabotage from within.
He said Ruto had an insatiable appetite for power and was keen on fomenting dissent from within the Jubilee party, to elbow him out of the very government he heads.
The President also took time to explain to the elders why he reached out to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga who is now the Azimio La Umoja presidential flagbearer and shook hands in March 2018.
While explaining why he opted to reach out to Odinga through the March 2018 Handshake deal, Kenyatta told the elders that he reached out to his arch-rival turned ally, to steady the government, and slow puncture what he termed Ruto’s grand plan to sabotage his administration and ascend to power through the backdoor.
The president accused Ruto of opposing the handshake and pushing him to play hard ball against the ODM leader, with whom he had faced off in the August 2017 presidential race, whose outcome was overturned by the Supreme Court.
With the Presidential race 135 days away, Kenyatta justified his choice of Odinga as his preferred successor, terming Ruto impatient and a leader who focused more on the 2022 succession politics than execution of his duties as his principal assistant.
The Head of State took the opportunity to call on all parties allied to the Azimio La Umoja outfit in central Kenya to wisely field candidates and ensure they do not split votes, to the advantage of candidates allied to Ruto’s UDA party.
Kenyatta urged the elders and political leaders present to mobilise their supporters to vote for Odinga, but also emerge with a majority of Members of Parliament in the National Assembly and Senate, Governors and MCA’s, to secure the community’s and regional interests in the government that will be established after the August polls.
