Bring it on, DP William Ruto tells 2022 rivals
Deputy President William Ruto during an empowerment meeting with traders in Machakos town on July 21, 2021. He said he is not bothered by rivals forming coalitions to challenge him in next year’s presidential election.
Deputy President William Ruto has said he is not bothered by rivals forming coalitions to challenge him in next year’s presidential election.
Speaking in Machakos town Wednesday, where he rallied the Kamba community to back his presidential bid arguing he has a better chance of succeeding President Kenyatta than his challengers, the DP also accused ODM leader Raila Odinga and Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka of derailing Jubilee’s Big Four Agenda.
The DP claimed the push for constitutional changes to create positions for the political elite distracted President Kenyatta’s legacy programmes in health, housing, manufacturing and food security.
“Mr Odinga and Mr Musyoka told us that the Big Four Agenda was not a priority. They told us priority is to change the Constitution," Dr Ruto said, exuding confidence that the bid to change the supreme law will eventually be defeated.
Leadership positions
"We cannot keep talking about the sharing of leadership positions among a few leaders,” the DP said referring to the Building Bridges Initiative campaign to amend the Constitution.
“We have to start talking about the issues of the common man. That is why we have said we shall change our conversation as Kenyans," he added.
The DP was addressing small-scale traders and boda boda operators in Machakos town.
He listed the upcoming Konza Technocity among key transformative projects undertaken by President Kenyatta's administration in the region.
"In addition to funding the mega infrastructural projects, we should also think about investing in bettering the underprivileged. We should invest in programmes to give them jobs and boost the businesses. That was our plan in 2018. However, it was interrupted by members of the opposition who were co-opted into government," he said.
MPs Victor Munyaka (Machakos Town), Vincent Musyoka (Mwala), Nimrod Mbai (Kitui East) and Nderitu Gachagua (Mathira) accompanied the DP.
Dr Ruto’s camp portrayed the meeting as a follow up of discussions between the DP and Ms Elizabeth Mueni, a Machakos hawker, who he met three weeks ago. "When she visited me in the company of MPs, I asked Elizabeth to mobilise 200 of her colleagues but many more attended," Dr Ruto said Wednesday.
He commissioned a solar-powered borehole he has sponsored at AIC Bomani church in Machakos town.
Thereafter, he addressed a roadside rally in the town where he wooed the Kamba community to back his presidential bid.
