On Friday, July 1, Deputy President William Ruto revealed that he almost slapped Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The United Democratic Alliance presidential flag bearer said he literally forced Uhuru to take part in the repeat presidential polls because the president had clearly given up after a bruising campaign period.
This was after the Supreme Court nullified their presidential win and ordered a repeat election which the main challenger Raila Odinga boycotted.
Speaking at State House on Friday, July 8, during a meeting with religious leaders, The Head of State said that he was willing to go home for the sake of peace.
Uhuru, who will be retiring in a month’s time, said he thought of going back to his Ichaweri, Gatundu home if that was the only way to prevent the nation from sliding into violence similar to what was experienced after the 2007/08 General Election.
Uhuru said that the effects of the 2007-2008 post-election violence were still fresh in his memories and he had the responsibility of sheltering Kenyans from another cycle of violence.
“A lot has been said about me. Some are even going out there saying how I wanted to go to Gatundu after the Supreme Court nullified my 2017 election,
“I want to confirm that, indeed it’s true. Yes, I wanted to go home. Because, if going home would have brought peace in this country, then I was ready,” said Uhuru.
While earlier defending his intentions of slapping his boss, Ruto confirmed that he pushed his boss to participate in the repeat poll
An unapologetic Ruto said that there was no way he was going to let the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition party flag bearer Raila Odinga take the presidency away from President Uhuru.
“You (Raila Odinga) wanted President Uhuru to leave the presidency which we had worked so hard for. We woke at 4 am to vote for him so that he could be the president,” Ruto said.