Kalonzo Musyoka: DP Ruto’s presidential credentials exaggerated

Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has said Deputy President William Ruto’s presidential credentials are exaggerated and Mr Musyoka expects to win if the two face each other in next year’s presidential election.

In recent public remarks, Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu has suggested that the opposition would be no match for DP Ruto if it does not face him as a united front.

Ms Ngilu first made the plea on Friday last week at the burial of former Kibwezi MP Kalembe Ndile in Kibwezi. She then ratcheted up the call on Monday during a meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and political leaders from Ukambani at State House, Nairobi.

But Mr Musyoka took issue with the governor’s assertion, saying she went overboard and that it amounted to boosting the DP political mileage.

“I would love to get Ruto on the ballot because he is the individual all of us are determined to beat,” he told the Nation on Wednesday in an interview at his private offices in Nairobi.

“For the love of this country, I’m relishing an opportunity to face him head-on,” he added, noting that the DP and his handlers must prepare for that eventuality.

Ms Ngilu is said to have broached the idea of a united Nasa during the State House meeting. Some of the attendees said she challenged Mr Kenyatta to use the power of his office to force the protagonists in Nasa into a deal, warning that the DP would walk over them in next year’s polls.

Calls for unity

While Mr Musyoka asserts that the issue of Nasa unity was not discussed, some of the lawmakers present disagree, insisting that the matter came up at the trigger of the governor.

While the President rejected the governor’s invitation to bring the opposition together, he supported the calls for unity, saying it was also important for a united country.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, DP Ruto and his allies took to Twitter and accused the President of orchestrating the collapse of the ruling Jubilee Party as part of a broader scheme to support the opposition, and neglecting those who supported him in the last three presidential elections.

“So, what happens to the Thurakus, the Kumira Kumera contingent, the eight million of us? No youth, No woman, no Man…who woke up early and voted three times for the Uhuru-Ruto ticket merits support? Sawa tu. Tutajipanga na support ya Mungu. (It is okay. We shall plan ourselves with the support of God).

Mr Musyoka pushed back against the claims in the tweets, saying it was tantamount to the DP putting words in the President’s mouth.

He said the DP’s conduct was meant to belittle the meeting whose primary motive was to discuss development matters in the lower eastern region of the country.

“To post such tweets is to pretend that he knows what was discussed and what the President said at the meeting yet he wasn’t there. If he is truly a member of Jubilee Party, he can have his own meeting with the President so that it can be clarified what we discussed,” Mr Musyoka said

Kalonzo criticised

On Thursday, Nandi Senator Samson Cherargey, an ally of the DP, hit back at the former vice-president over claims that DP Ruto is overrated as a presidential candidate, saying it is Mr Musyoka who overestimates himself.

“He is a confused politician who knows he is no match and cannot hold a candle to Ruto’s candidature,” he said.

“Musyoka is part of the people who are pushing for the postponement of the elections so that they can get a strategy to contain the DP. In fact, he has failed to unite his own backyard,” he added, giving the examples of governors Ngilu, Kivutha Kibwana and Alfred Mutua, who are Mr Musyoka’s opponents in the lower eastern region.

[email protected]