Deputy president William Ruto has affirmed that he will not allow what happened between him and president Uhuru Kenyatta to happen between him and his running mate Rigathi Gachagua if they are elected in the August 9 general elections.
DP Ruto and president Kenyatta have not been on good terms during their second term in office, and that has seen Ruto being secluded from government operations.
In an interview with a local TV station on Sunday night, Ruto said that he has committed himself by clearly defining the Deputy president’s tasks, in writing, to avoid the current ‘Uhuruto’ situation in future.
“It will not happen. I will not allow for example my running mate or deputy president to be humiliated by junior staff. I have committed myself in writing that there are responsibilities my deputy will cover. We even had a vice president, a vice president always chaired the cabinet committees, always did certain things. My deputy president will be a very busy person,” Ruto said.
He however said that he will use the law to deal with Rigathi, if he goes rogue.
“If my deputy president goes rogue, there is the law, if he abuses his office the law takes its course, if he does things that are unconstitutional, there is a way a deputy president is dealt with by the law but I want to tell you that I will do everything possible to make sure the deputy president’s office which is a constitutional office is a functional office that serves the people of Kenya,” Ruto further said.
At the same time, the second in command explained why he settled on Gachagua as his deputy and not Tharaka Nithi senator Kithure Kindiki, who was deemed a better choice, or other candidates who were on the list.
“Rigathi Gachagua is somebody I have known, he is a very passionate leader, he is a people’s person, he speaks about the things that I speak about, he speaks about ordinary people he is concerned about matters to do with farmers, things that are dear to ordinary Kenyans and the nexus between me and him is the people. He believes in bottom-up the way I do and that is why I chose him,” Ruto noted.
He denied claims that the Kenya Kwanza teams had settled on someone else as the running mate only for him to pick Gachagua. Ruto said that the whole team eventually settled on Gachagua after wide consultations.
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