Senior officials fighting my State House bid, says Ruto
Seth Mwaniki and Anthony Mwangi
Deputy President William Ruto yesterday accused senior State officials of working hard to sabotage his presidential candidature in next year’s election.
Ruto said the State operatives, who he did not name, had hatched “evil plans” which, he said, will not succeed.
Speaking at the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya, Mbiriri in Kieni constituency yesterday, Ruto said his opponents were colluding with State operatives to frustrate his 2022 State House bid.
“I want to tell those planning to sabotage me that I am not going to retreat or surrender until I win this race and liberate hustlers of this nation,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, Ruto and his entourage encountered a hostile mob at Narumoru town who tried to bar him from addressing a crowd.
Ruto, who was in the company of several MPs, was coming from a Nanyuki hotel where he had joined the legislators on Saturday for a two-day meeting.
He made stop-overs in Karatina in Nyeri, Mukuyu in Kiharu, Maragua and Kenol in Murang’a.
Tyres burnt
But upon reaching Narumoru town, where he was to make another stop-over before proceeding to Mbiriri, hundreds of hostile people lining up both sides of the road shouted anti-Ruto slogans.
In Mbiriri, rowdy youths burnt tyres and poured heaps of murram on the road.
At the church, pro-Ruto youths ejected the politicians perceived to be opposed to Ruto.
The MPs accused Kieni MP Kanini Kega of hiring goons to disrupt Ruto’s function.
Ruto dismissed the chaos as primitive.
A scheduled attendance by Ruto at the PCEA Mbiriri was cancelled because of the church’s position that politicians should not be allowed to attend the sanctuaries.
But Nyeri Town MP Wambugu Ngunjiri accused Ruto of causing violence to seek sympathy and claimed that churches were being used to spread hate.
“Goons have been brought in from different regions. The DP is desperate,” said Ngunjiri.
“The DP support’s is shrinking and he is now resorting to violence,” said Ndaragua MP Jeremiah Kioni.
Addressing a crowd at Mbiriri, the DP said politicians who are forming election coalitions were wasting Kenyans’ time.
He accused Jubilee Party officials of auctioning the party to ODM leader Raila Odinga.
“Since the Handshake, Jubilee was hijacked by Raila and this made us lose out on our core mandate of the Big Four agenda. We shall make things better once we assume office,” he said.
Ruto reminded Central region residents how he stood with President Uhuru Kenyatta when he was facing opposition from Raila and other politicians.
Local leaders urged residents of the Mt Kenya region to support the DP who they said was representing their interests.
They said that those seeking to form alliances with other presidential candidates were misleading them.
During a stop-over in Mukuyu market in Murang’a, MPs who accompanied Ruto asked residents to support him for the presidency.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said Ruto enjoys massive support from the residents of Mt Kenya region and they will vote for him as a block.
Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wa slammed leaders who have been saying the region does not have a presidential candidate, saying their candidate is Ruto.
During the two-day retreat, leaders from Mt Kenya region backed formation of a single party.
“We have come to conclusion that a party with national outlook will be the best for this nation,” they said in a statement. —Additional reporting by Wangari Njuguna
