Deputy President William Samoi Ruto has promised to protect his Deputy from humiliation by Junior government officials incase he wins the coming August poll.
Ruto stated in an interview on Sunday, June 12, 2022, that things changed in government when President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga exchanged handshakes in 2018, signaling the beginning of his “humiliation” in a government he helped establish.
“I think post handshake things changed, and clearly my influence as Deputy President, my roles, my input in government significantly was in our first term. In our second term, with the handshake, things became different. The functions that remained (after the handshake) included dealing with the counties and the IBEC (Intergovernmental Budget and Economic Council), the advise (to the President), once in a while assignments here and there which were given to me and of course as a public officer I figured out what else I can do as I wait for other assignments from my boss,” Ruto said.
Ruto expresses his dissatisfaction with junior officers.
People tried to drive Ruto out of the Deputy President’s office, according to Ruto, while the president stood by and did nothing to protect him.
“There are people who thought they would frustrate me out of this office and I would never allow them to succeed. Every assignment, whether it is assignment by the law, whether it is assignment by the Constitution, I have discharged those responsibilities. And any assignment that has been given to me by my boss, I have discharged it and I dare say to the best of my ability and in the best way possible. There is absolutely no reason why anybody would ask me to do anything or to act in any other manner than I have acted,” he added.
Ruto supported the Constitution’s framers, claiming that the law was created to safeguard the Deputy President from being recruited and fired at will (the president).
“I will not allow my Deputy President to be humiliated by junior staff. I have committed myself in writting that there are responsibilities my deputy will carry. Even when we had a Vice President, the Vice President always chaired the cabinet committees. I want to promise you that my Deputy President will be a very busy person,” Ruto noted.
“If my Deputy President goes rogue, there is the law. If he abuses his office, there is the law, the law will take 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 promise 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 added.
In the fallout pitting President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy Ruto, the President had accused the DP of absconding duty in their second term wondering why he had not resigned to give room for him to appoint someone else.
The two began their term in 2013 with a public show of camaraderie that was punctuated by donning similar outfits, the most prominent being their white shirts and red ties when they released names of the first Cabinet members.
Nevertheless as their reign comes to end they cannot shake hands with each other, preferring the Namaste salute whenever they they meet one another.
The President, who had promised to support his Deputy to succeed him in the August 9 polls has now turned around and is supporting opposition leader Raila Odinga for Presidency.
The ruling Jubilee Party has formed a coalition party with ODM, Wiper Party and Narc Kenya among others seeking to floor Ruto in the Presidential duel
