NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 8 – Deputy President William Ruto has vowed to fight on, saying no amount of intimidation will slow him down in the quest to win the August presidential election.
In an apparent reference to remarks made by his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta in Mombasa on Monday, Ruto said there was an attempt “by a few individuals to impose new leadership on Kenyans.”
“Kenya sio ya watu watatu, wanne au familia chache za Kenya (Kenya does not belong to three or four people or few families)…enough is enough, we will not allow you to impose a puppet on the people of Kenya,” he said while on a campaign tour of Shinyalu in Western Kenya.
Ruto has been on an overdrive since Monday when his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed him while in Mombasa, saying he abandoned the government and started campaigning too early.
“They are obsessed with managing their succession but I want to tell them that we are ready for that contest my friends, bring it on. Tuko tayari kabisa (we are ready),” Ruto said while addressing a campaign rally in Likuyani in Kakamega County on Tuesday.
Ruto has been campaigning to succeed President Kenyatta whom he accuses of plotting to have ODM leader Raila Odinga succeed him.
On Monday, Kenyatta declared that he is now ready to roll in campaigns for his preferred successor, effectively putting Ruto on notice.
“I pleaded with them to stop early campaigns but they ignored me and my advice and yet they are claiming that they have been working. Let us not be cheated at all,” he said, “I am now ready to face them and we will do politics properly.”
But a bullish Ruto is not taking it lying down. “Bring it on my friend,” he declared, and told him off on accusations that he has been moving around the country “implementing government projects from the sunroof of his car.”
“I have been in government long enough to understand that policies and theoretical works are done in offices but implemented on the ground that sometimes entails doing so from the sunroof of cars” Ruto said.
And while Kenyatta credits himself of delivering on the Jubilee manifesto, Ruto insists he is part of the successes.
“You cannot deny me as Deputy President the credit in the many things we have achieved as a government. It is not going happen my friends,” he said.
Ruto who severed links with his boss due to his political ambitions to succeed him – stressed that he will not be cowed into succumbing to threats and intimidation from his critics who continue to undermine his role.
He noted that he is ready to face his competitors at the August polls where he exuded confidence that the Kenya Kwanza Alliance will emerge victorious with a landslide win.
“We are ready for that contest my friends. Bring it on,” he said
President Kenyatta on Monday while launching the Universal Health Coverage Plan accused Ruto of being absent in his government agenda opting to “work from on top of vehicles” while moving around the country.
