DP Ruto: I’ll not probe Uhuru Kenyatta if I win elections
Deputy President William Ruto.
Deputy President William Ruto has said that he has no intentions to investigate his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta if he is elected in the August 9 polls.
In an interview with KTN News on Thursday night, the country's second in command said the aim of establishing a quasi-judicial public inquiry is to sanitise state agencies that are not offering efficient and effective services to Kenyans.
Under the ‘Ending State Capture’ sub-topic in the Kenya Kwanza alliance manifesto, Dr Ruto promises to establish “within 30 days, a quasi-judicial public inquiry to establish the extent of cronyism and state capture in the nation and make recommendations”.
Such an inquiry, he said, would help his administration deal with what he described as “paying lip service” to the fight against corruption.
"Many people are trying to argue today that William Ruto wants to investigate his boss, the President. I have no such interests, I just want to stop paying lip service to the fight against corruption," he said.
He added: "The Kenya Kwanza government will do three things: we are going to create capacity and empower institutions. We must build the capacity of every institution to execute their mandate."
This comes as President Kenyatta's allies and Azimio la Umoja One Kenya deputy presidential candidate Martha Karua have warned DP Ruto against issuing threats to the Head of State.
Humiliation by his boss
“Kenya doesn’t have a co-presidency. When you are appointed a deputy, you should remain a deputy. You cannot be waking up every morning to criticise your boss. If you don’t have respect for your boss, you also don’t deserve to be respected even as you look to be President,” said Ms Karua on Thursday.
But the DP has insisted that the current war against graft has been weaponised and individuals who are politically correct are protected.
"The problem today is that 'he who calls the tune pays the piper'. The investigations that are going on are for the people who are not 'politically correct'. We cannot handle the Judiciary the way we are handling it at the moment," said the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate.
While Dr Ruto lamented that he has been subjected to humiliation by his boss, he said he never had intentions to slap him.
Responding to leaked audio in which he explained to some Agikuyu elders last Friday that he almost slapped President Kenyatta in 2017 when the latter said he did not want to participate in the presidential election rerun, he claimed he was speaking 'figuratively' and he meant to illustrate that he had always stood with the Head of State.
"Honestly, it was a figurative speech. Nobody can slap the President. The point I was trying to make to the audience was, the President was almost giving up … I told him, my friend, you are not able to do something silly like that,” he explained.
“That is what a genuine friend is all about. When your friend is about to give up, you must be there to support them, encourage them not to make the wrong decisions.”
