NAIROBI, Kenya Aug 21 – President-Elect William Ruto has assured the outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta that he will be accorded the respect he deserves once he leaves office.
Ruto said he habours no grudge and that he is ready to ensure his current boss-who will hand over to him unless the Supreme Court nullifies his victory-retires peacefully.
“We thank Uhuru for his contribution in steering the country to where it is. I want to assure him that he will have his respect and his place as our leader who will retire,” Ruto said during a church service in Kiambu on Sunday.
Ruto was declared president-elect by the electoral commission following the August 9 presidential election in which he defeated Kenyatta’s prefered successor Raila Odinga of the Azimio La Umoja.
He stated that the Kiambu County which is regarded as the outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta’s political bastion defied all odds by supporting him as opposed to Raila Odinga-who was Kenyatta’s preferred successor.
“I appreciate that people of Mt Kenya have taken me as one of their sons. They have stood by me through thick and thin and buried ethnicity in the politics of Kenya. I am assuring you that I will not let you down,” Ruto said of the support he got from the region that is Kenyatta’s backyard.
Ruto said that out of the 7,176,141 he garnered, the majority of the votes came from Kiambu County.
Despite the upheavals he has faced ever since his fallout with President Kenyatta in March 2018 when he shook hands with Odinga, he said he was grateful for being voted in.
The President-Elect committed to fashion his development agenda on President Kenyatta’s legacy projects by completing unfinished ones, including the Big 4 blue print.
“What we did together, we will build on that foundation and take our country forward. That which he didn’t complete we will complete including stalled projects which include roads, electricity and water,” Ruto assured.
Ruto pointed out that the support he got from the Mt Kenya region among others in the country shows that Kenya has matured beyond ethnic cocoons.
“I appreciate that people of Mt Kenya have taken me as one of their sons. They have stood by me through thick and thin and buried ethnicity in the politics of Kenya. I am assuring you that I will not let you down,” Ruto said.
Odinga only secured 847,709 votes from Mt Kenya, which was an improvement as compared to previous elections.
“The people of Mt Kenya have changed the politics in our nation and you have occasioned a paradigm shift in the politics of our republic. And I promise I won’t let you down,” Ruto stated.
But even as he spoke, Odinga was preparing to file a petition on Monday to challenge the victory handed to the Deputy President.
