Handshake is unshakable, President tells DP team
Noah Cheploen @cheploennoah
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday sent yet another warning to Deputy President William Ruto’s allies, telling them that his relationship with Opposition leader Raila Odinga was unbreakable.
He said the March 9, 2018 Handshake that gave birth to the Building the Bridges Initiative (BBI) was for the good of the country.
Speaking in Nakuru when he officially opened a new Simba Cement factory in Salgaa, Uhuru said he would not be shaken by Ruto’s camp decision to chart their own path on the BBI.
“I will not be shaken. That is where I am and I am moving in that direction until I ensure Kenyans have peace,” he said.
At a stopover at Maili Saba in Bahati constituency which is represented by Kimani Ngunjiri, a critic of his, Uhuru told the MP to stop insulting him.
“Was he elected to insult people? Tell him to stop abusing me... tell him a nation is not built on insults,” he said.
He said no one should be threatened or blackmailed to vote a certain way.
“We will not be succumbing to fear that if things (voting) don’t go this way, this will happen. It does happen that way. Kenya is for all of us,” he said.
Ngunjiri (below) has been asking the people of Mt Kenya region to vote for Ruto in 2022 as a reciprocation of the DP’s support for Uhuru in the 2013 and 2017 elections.
The President reiterated the Handshake and BBI were meant to unite Kenyans and end electoral violence, marginalisation, unemployment and lack of inclusivity in government.
He told leaders to stop 2022 campaigns and focus on service delivery.
He was accompanied by Ruto’s critics in the Rift Valley region including Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny, William Kamket (Tiaty), Raymond Moi (Rongai) and Samuel Arama (Nakuru West).
Governors Alex Tolgos (Elgeyo Marakwet), Lee Kinyanjui (Nakuru), John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot) and Ndiritu Murithi (Laikipa) were also in the entourage.
Area Woman Rep Liz Chelule and Nakuru East MP David Gikaria, who are allied to Ruto attended but Senator Susan Kihika, Ngunjiri, Jayne Kihara (Naivasha) and Martha Wangari (Gilgil) were not present.
