Uhuru, Raila allies tell DP to resign for ‘undermining’ President
Legislators allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga yesterday told Deputy President William Ruto to resign for allegedly defying and disrespecting his boss.
The 12 MPs, who were reacting to Ruto sentiments on Sunday on the ongoing counties forums on the Building Bridges Initiative(BBI), accused him of disparaging one of the President’s pet projects, the cohesion agenda.
Ruto termed it an act of political conmanship. He was reacting to the roll-out of the BBI forums in Kisii on Friday where he was targeted by speakers for allegedly being an obstacle to the implementation of the cohesion initiative.
But reacting to the calls by the legislators led by National Assembly Minority Whip Junet Mohamed and Nominated MP Maina Kamanda, Senate Leader of Majority Kipchumba Murkomen, told off Ruto’s critics saying the Deputy President is not an employee of the President.
Spirited fight
“To ODM, Sabina (Chege) and Kamanda: Our response is thus: The Deputy President is not an employee of the President. They willingly came together, jointly employed by the people of Kenya.
The respect you are demanding for the President is the same respect the President is demanding for his Deputy,” Murkomen, who is also the Elgeyo Marakwet Senator said in a tweet.
The MPs, nine of them from the Opposition Orange party, two from Jubilee Party and one from Wiper Party, accused Ruto of openly fighting Uhuru’s March 9, 2018 Handshake deal Raila.
They said his spirited fight against the ongoing regional meetings in counties to popularise the BBI report and its recommendations is evidence of his disrespect to the President, who is the Head of State and government.
Those who addressed a press conference at Parliament Buildings, included George Aladwa (Makadara), Tom Kajwang’ (Ruaraka), Benard Okoth (Kibra), Simba Arati (Dagoretti North), Antony Oluoch (Mathare), Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town), Ben Momanyi (Borabu), Tim Wanyonyi (Westlands) and Murang’a Woman Rep Sabina Chege.
“It is clear that DP Ruto is hiding behind former Prime Raila Odinga and the BBI to fight the President and those public officers the President has entrusted with power of helping him run the government,” the MPs said in a press statement read by Junet.
And they posed: “How can this man talk of rule of law when he has declared war against the President and the entire government system?”
The MPs accused the DP of spreading lies about the BBI to discredit it for selfish gains.
“One of the biggest lies he had peddled over the weekend was that BBI is a waste of public funds,” they said, adding that Ruto has allegedly directed his Tanga Tanga squad to throw around an inflated amount of money disparage the process.
They accused the DP who they claimed had a dark past of being divisive and negative person.
The DP Ruto’s criticism was reinforced by Kamanda, who questioned why Ruto attacks the most senior, loyal and hardworking officers in the government in which he is serving.
