NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 13 – In the clearest indication yet that the Uhuruto political marriage is dead, President Uhuru Kenyatta has dared his deputy William Ruto to resign instead of criticising the government from within.
Kenyatta said it was ridiculous “for a leader to keep employing doublespeak whenever he is addressing Kenyans.”
“On one hand he is saying the government has failed and on the other hand he is saying we as a government has done this and that development,” the president said in an apparent reference to his estranged deputy who has perfected the art of outlining achievements of the Jubilee government while at the same time, saying it has failed.
“That is double speak, you can’t be speaking of the failures of a government where you serve while at the same time outlining what you refer to as we have achieved as a government. You better resign,” Kenyatta said when he addressed residents of Uthiru after commissioning a health centre put up by the Nairobi Metropolitan Sercices.
Kenyatta did not mention his Deputy’s name directly, but it was clear he was referring to him due to statements Ruto often makes on how Jubilee has developed roads, equipped hospitals among other projects while at the same time casting the government as lost on its priorities due to the introduction of the handshake politics.
Equally, whenever Ruto is castigating the BBI, he often refers to its proponents (Kenyatta and Odinga) with the pronoun “they”.
“They are telling us that BBI will improve the lives of Kenyans when we know that it is aimed at creating positions for them,” he said during one of his hustler nation empowerment programs recently.
Kenyatta reiterated the need to support the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) saying it holds the key to more development in the country as well as end perennial chaos after elections.
While Kenyatta and his handshake partner former Prime Minister Raila Odinga are rallying for the support of the BBI, Ruto and his brigade of the hustler nation have dismissed it as a waste of public resources and only aimed at creating positions for select leaders. Kenyatta and Odinga have dismissed the claim.
Kenyatta last week held a meeting in his Mt Kenya backyard where he rallied local leaders to support the BBI initiative saying they stood to benefit contrary to claims by Ruto and his troops.
Odinga has also held a similar meeting in his Nyanza region, where he met elected leaders, business leaders among other influential businessmen and professionals to seek their support even as county assemblies countrywide race to debate the BBI Constitutional Ammendment Bill.
So far, three counties, Kisumu, Siaya and Homa Bay have passed the Bill.
On Thursday, there were chaos at the Baringo County Assembly where teargass was lobbed by police after the bill was shot down with 30 versus 11 votes.
While MCAs opposed to the Bill said it had been defeated, those supporting it said the vote was marred by irregularities and demanded a repeat.
The Bill has already been tabled in several other counties across the country, with public participation ongoing ahead of the vote.
Only half of the counties, 24, are required to pass the Bill for it to be sent to the National Assembly as the country gears up for a national referendum in June.
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