The Deputy President joined Mzee Kenyatta’s family led by his widow Mama Ngina Kenyatta at the Holy Family Minor Basilica for a memorial service conducted by Bishop David Kamau of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi.
Addressing the congregation, Ruto said Kenyans will forever be grateful and indebted to Mzee Kenyatta and other liberation heroes for the sacrifice, commitment and courage they had in liberating this country from the colonial yoke.
He said it was not a coincidence that Kenyans were observing the 35th anniversary of Mzee Kenyatta’s death in the Jubilee year, which the Bible has said is the year of liberation.
He said;” I would therefore like to ask leaders in the country to make their contribution in going beyond the rallying call of the founding fathers of our nation of fighting poverty, disease and ignorance to ensure that the country has good infrastructure, education, health and that it grows at double digits.”
Noting that President Uhuru Kenyatta would have wanted to be present at the service, Ruto pointed out that the Head of State was out of the country pursuing the dreams of the founding fathers of making Kenya a better country to live in. “On this score, even his father would have excused him if he was around,” Ruto added amid applause.
He recalled that in 1978 he was a schoolboy herding his father’s animals when Mzee Kenyatta died, adding little did he imagine that 35 years later he would be making his contribution to the development of this country as Deputy President.