Kenya’s President William Ruto has hinted at offering his bitter rival in the August 9, presidential election Raila Odinga roles in his government.
The President said he was willing to work with Raila but not through the handshake arrangement witnessed during late President Mwai Kibaki and retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regimes.
“As president, I would deploy all the resources that we have for the good of the country and If Raila Odinga came by, I would find something for him to do but not in the handshake arrangement
“When Raila Odinga decides to retire, and I think there are roles he can play as a Kenyan leader, he can support the country in other initiatives may be in the Great Lakes Region, he can work with us as an elder statesman, it is not for me to choose,” President Ruto said.
The President who was speaking to BBC News Africa on Monday, September 26, said working with the former Prime Minister in the handshake arrangement would undermine the roles of the opposition in the country.
He said the current mess the country is in was due to the handshake between the government and the opposition terming retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 2018 March handshake with Raila Odinga as the “biggest fraud.”
“The handshake arrangement was the biggest fraud on the people of Kenya. It should not have happened,
“Once you compromise the opposition you are headed in the wrong direction, many wrong things will happen as it did,” Ruto said.
In his maiden address to the Nation after being sworn in as Head of State on Tuesday, September 13, President Ruto tasked his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta to lead peace initiatives in the region.
“On the peace initiatives in our region including both in Ethiopia and Great Lakes Region, I have asked my elder brother President Uhuru Kenyatta who has done commendable engagement with those regions and he has graciously agreed to continue chairing those discussions on behalf of the people of Kenya,” Ruto said.
