President William Ruto has explained why he appointed Uhuru Kenyatta as the peace envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa despite their bitter fall out, which saw Uhuru support a different candidate in the August 9, general elections contrary to their 2012 agreement.
President Ruto made the appointment during his maiden speech after being sworn into office on September 13.
In an interview with an international media house, while on his UN General Assembly trip, Ruto said that he appointed Uhuru because he believes that he brings value to the process.
According to him, he was just in a competition with Uhuru and that doesn’t mean that they are enemies.
“I appointed President Uhuru as an envoy because I’m different. I believe that President Kenyatta brings value to the processes in Ethiopia and DRC. What was there between him and me was a competition.
“It wasn’t a competition between me and the person he supported. Being a democracy, we are mature enough to understand that we can compete but we don’t have to be enemies but compatriots, ” the president said.
He further said that Uhuru should continue providing leadership because of the value he brings whether he supported him or not and that matters of the competition are now past. He added that now he is the president and he does not mind someone standing in for him on regional matters as he deals with the country’s issues.
“When things fall apart, it will stop at my desk. I can only be effective in doing what the people of Kenya want if the region is not a problem. If somebody else can help me with the regional issues so that I can concentrate my energy, efforts and time in sorting out the issues Kenyans want me to do, I think that is the right decision,” Ruto said.
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