Kalonzo tells Ruto to resign over Uganda aborted travel saga
Christine Musa and Kirera Mwiti
Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has asked Deputy President William Ruto to resign.
According to Kalonzo, Ruto had violated protocol by seeking to travel to Uganda without the knowledge of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Speaking in Kajiado at the weekend, the former vice president accused the DP of “stooping too
low to seek public sympathy”.
“I was the vice president of President Mwai Kibaki and not on a single day did the President complain about me,” said Kalonzo.
“I want to tell Ruto that on this one, he got it wrong. I am talking to you as a person of great experience because I was in that position you are in today.
Orange Democratic Party leader Raila Odinga, who served as a prime minister then, never dared such a move,’’ he added.
He said it was a must for the Deputy President to inform his boss about his travel because if anything were to happen to him while outside the country, the President would be held accountable.
Kalonzo further accused Ruto of using Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and his Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho as punching bags.
“If people have decided to go their way let them resign. If Ruto had resigned, he would have been free and would not need to seek permission from the President.
We must have order,’’said Kalonzo. He also accused Ruto of seek votes by playing victim.
“If you want sympathy, look for the right way. We have a country to mind,” said Kalonzo.
But speaking at a church service in Karagita, Naivasha, Ruto accused some people in the government of using the justice system to punish his allies.
“It has now become the norm to arrest MPs and other investors and we should not allow petty wrangles to divide Kenyans based on political differences,” he said.
Ruto said that due to the wrangles in Jubilee, the government had lost its focus, including implementation of the Big Four agenda.
“We promised Kenyans jobs, universal health care and houses but all this has been forgotten as we continue to fight MPs, investors and those perceived to be anti-government,” he said.
MPs who attended the church service with him claimed that some government officials were targeting the DP using the terror claims about Turkish businessman Harun Aydin.
The leaders said a cartel at the Office of the President was responsible for the latest woes bedeviling the DP, who was stopped from flying to Uganda last week.
They pointed an accusing finger at Matiang’i and Kibicho.
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa said the arrest of the Turkish investor on Saturday over terror allegations was an attempt to criminalise enterprise.
Terror charges
He claimed there was a cartel which was out to antagonise those close to the DP.
“We fear that this cartel is trying to use the terror charges to eliminate the DP but we have to tell them the truth that this government has failed,” he said.
Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua accused Matiang’i and Kibicho of turning the country into a dictatorship.
“They should read history and know that one day they will be ordinary Kenyans,” he said.
Ruto defended Jubilee Party’s first term, saying it had achieved a lot.
After church, the DP met leaders from Nyanza region to drum up support for his bottom-up economic model. Among those present were former Constitution Implementation Committee chair Charles Nyachae, Youth advisor Anthony Kibagendi and former Nyamira Woman Rep Alice Chae, former Rangwe MP Martin Ogindo and former Kitutu Masaba MP Walter Nyambati.
