DP William Ruto: I will not resign

Deputy President William Ruto has said he will not bow down to pressure from his competitors to resign.

“I was elected. I am not going to give those seeking to push me out of this government the opportunity to celebrate. I won’t resign,” he said in an interview with a Citizen  TV station on Thursday night.

The DP reiterated that it is the right of Kenyans to vote for their President, adding that no one will be appointed as President in the coming 2022 general election.

However, Ruto said he will not take offence if President Uhuru Kenyatta does not support his 2022 presidential bid.

He added that he had no agreement with the President on the rotational presidency remarks and that he chose to support Uhuru in 2013 because in him he saw a partnership that would change Kenya.

“It was the President who said ‘yangu kumi, ya Ruto kumi’. He is an adult. He can change his mind. He is entitled to changing his mind. Nonetheless, he will remain to be my friend, even if he doesn’t support my presidential bid, that is if I run in 2022,” Ruto said.

Since the March 2018 handshake between ODM leader Raila Odinga and Uhuru, the relationship between the President and his deputy has been on the rocks.

The relationship turned frosty after the DP snubbed a Jubilee meeting called by his boss, and where his allies were kicked out of their leadership positions.

The former vocal Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen and Whip Susan Kihika were sacrificed in a wider political war that was presumed to be linked to the 2022 succession politics.

Murkomen was replaced by Kanu’s Samuel Poghisio, while Kihika’s previous role is now played by Murang’a Senator Irungu Kangata.

Kang’ata was later removed as Senate Majority Whip by Jubilee Party and replaced by Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi on grounds he was a Ruto ally.

As the year began, the Jubilee Party expelled six nominated Senators allied to the DP.

The senators include Isaac Mwaura, Mary Seneta, Falhada Dekow Iman, Naomi Jillo Waqo, Victor Prengei, Millicent Omanga and Christine Gona. They were expelled by the National Management Committee (NMC) after deliberating on the reports submitted by the Party Disciplinary Committee.

In several state functions, a seat reserved for the DP has always remained empty, a far cry from the good old times when the President and his number two referred to each other as brothers and wowed their supporters with their public show of matching outfits.