Ruto keeps off again as Head of State speaks to the nation
As President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday stood at the foot of his Harambee House office flanked by top government officials to address Kenyans on the much-awaited measures aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus, one man was conspicuously missing.
Deputy President William Ruto who is his principal assistant would have been ideally standing next to Uhuru as he delivered the speech which was followed by millions of Kenyans on both mainstream convectional and digital media platforms.
But the DP, whose last public appearance was on Saturday when he hosted church and political leaders at his Sugoi home in Uasin Gishu where he protested that his supporters were being subjected to all manner of intimidation, was nowhere to be seen.
Uhuru was accompanied by CSs Mutahi Kagwe (Health), George Magoha (Education), Fred Matiangi (Interior), Kakemega Governor and Council of Governors’ chairperson Wycliffe Oparanya.
Others at Harambee House were members of the Inter-Faith and Education committee co-chaired by Nyeri Catholic Archbishop Antony Muheria and Magoha respectively.
Ruto’s inexplicable absence in the address happened on a day Uhuru dispatched Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, a rival of the DP in Rift Valley politics to Lilongwe to represent Kenya in the inauguration of the newly elected Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera.
“Arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi this morning with the Kenyan delegation comprising of Foreign Affairs CAS Ababu Namwamba, Nick Salat and host of other government officials to represent President Uhuru Kenyatta in the inauguration ceremony of Lazarus Chakwera,” Senator Moi who flew in a Kenya Air Force plane announced in his social media pages.
The Head of State who conditionally relaxed the protocol measures outlawed political gatherings which some of Ruto’s allies have been demanding.
