Ruto attends Cabinet meeting amid bitter fallout with Uhuru

Deputy President William Ruto attended a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday.

The President’s Cabinet met amidst a bitter fallout with his deputy who is constitutionally a member of the top Executive organ.

“His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta is today, at State House, Nairobi, chairing a full Cabinet Meeting during which several matters of national and international importance will be discussed,” State House said in a statement.

Ruto on May 1 accused the President of failing to convene a Cabinet meeting for the past two years.

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.

UhuRuto first Cabinet

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. 

But as their reign comes to end they cannot shake hands with each other, preferring the Namaste salute whenever they bump into one another like during the funeral events for late President Mwai Kibaki two weeks ago. 

The current state of their engagement is contrary to the spirit displayed during their first Cabinet upon taking over power in 2013.

During the President’s first Cabinet meeting on June 6, 2013, the Head of State implored members to work as a team and focus on service delivery.

“You must take charge of your ministries, work as a team and get down to the business of serving the Kenyan people who are anxious to see the government deliver on its promises,” President Kenyatta was quoted saying in a dispatch by the State House press team that day.