Deputy President William Ruto took his presidential campaigns a notch higher by publicly cautioning his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta against forcing ODM leader Raila Odinga on Kenyans.
Speaking in Bungoma on Friday, January 28, during the Kenya Kwanza rally, DP Ruto indirectly reminded President Kenyatta how Kenyans rejected him in 2002 after being fronted as presidential candidate on KANU ticket by late President Daniel Arap Moi.
“I want to tell my friend, the president of Kenya, that the people of Kenya rejected a project 20 years ago. There is no way they can elect anybody’s puppet (in August 2022 presidential elections),” Ruto said.
Addressing a highly-charged crowd, the second in command was adamant that Kenyans will not elect a “puppet” imposed on them by the system.
“The people of Kenya are going to make a conscious decision and they will not buy the nonsense of a project including form the deep state and the system,” Ruto said.
This is the first time DP Ruto is firing salvos difrectly at his boss since their fallout in early 2018 as the race to State House heats up.
While President Uhuru Kenyatta has not publicly indicated he supports Raila Odinga’s presidential ambition, all indications are he prefers the ODM leader to succeed him.
In the same rally as Ruto, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi revealed how a senior government official confided to him that should William Ruto win the presidency, state operatives would not hand over power.
“Someone senior in this government once told me that they cannot allow the government to be in the hands of someone who is not a pedigree,” Mudavadi said.
The ANC boss labeled Azimio la Umoja, fronting Raila Odinga, a government project calling on Kenyans to reject it saying its proponents have nothing new to offer Kenyans.
ANC leader and his Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula used the occasion as their homecoming since they joined hands with Deputy President William Ruto.
Speaking at Kapsokwany and Malava stopovers, the two Western kingpins were categorical that their time with ODM leader Raila Odinga is over vowing never to support him again.
