Uhuru unloads on Ruto, defends BBI process

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday went on his most serious criticism yet of his estranged deputy William Ruto, daring him to quit the government over what he said was his continuing criticism of the administration.

In an interview with senior editors at State House, Nairobi, President Kenyatta said the DP, with whom he fell out following the March 2018 Handshake with opposition chief Raila Odinga, was insincere about his criticism against his government, which he described as a case of “wanting to have your cake and eat it”.

Stuck with a deputy insulated by the 2010 Constitution whom he cannot fire or shut out of budgetary and constitutional entitlements, President Kenyatta said the honourable thing for his second-in-command to do was to hit the road and stop criticising from within.

“If you are not happy, step aside and allow those who want to move on to do so, then take your agenda to the people. That is what happens in a democracy. You cannot ride on what we have done and talk a different language on the side,” President Kenyatta said in the interview.

The DP has recently gone on an attacking spree of the Jubilee administration, saying it had failed to implement its Big Four Agenda - universal healthcare, 500,000 affordable homes, a food secure country, and improvement of manufacturing - which he says has been affected by the Handshake and a focus on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

The BBI process was stopped last Friday by the Court of Appeal, which upheld a High Court ruling declaring the process unconstitutional.

The DP has taken credit for President Kenyatta’s government successes in the first term, and suggests that the failures of the second term were due to his being sidelined and his roles curved out to the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i-led National Development Implementation and Communication Committee (NDICC).

In the interview on Monday, he went short of saying he was the glue that held the government together, but was clear that the current state was because of the new team the President surrounds himself with.

“Those that the President trusted (with the roles I was doing), either because they did not know what to do, or lack of capacity, or laziness, did not do what they were expected to do. That is why the big plan we had (the Big Four) is now in a state you do not understand,” the DP said in a TV interview with Inooro earlier this month.

In the tell-all interview in which he looked ready to pour all out on what he says has been his systematic sidelining from the government, the DP said what he had gone through as the country’s Number Two should never happen to any holder of that office again.

“From the problems I have undergone and being despised among other things, I will not allow my deputy to be mistreated, belittled and all that I have (gone) through as Deputy President. it is not right. It is not fair,” he said.

He added: “People are saying that Jaramogi (Odinga), (Daniel) Moi also experienced the same. It does not matter, a wrong thing is a wrong thing. Whether it is done 100 or 1,000 times, it can never be right. The office of the Deputy President is anchored in the Constitution and even if you do not want to respect William Ruto for personal reasons, respect the office which is recognised in the Constitution.”

But in the interview with editors, President Kenyatta said the DP was insincere about his place in the government, as well as his criticism of the BBI process.

He said that was the reason the DP had not been invited to the State House meetings the Head of State has been holding with Mr Odinga as well as One Kenya Alliance leaders Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka, Gideon Moi and Moses Wetang'ula.

“The only reason I have not called William Ruto to the meetings is that he has been opposed to it (BBI and the unity process). For what reason, I do not know, but he’s been opposed to it. So you can't call someone who's opposed to it,” he said.

“And I do not understand because he's been part of the process. I can't force it down someone's throat that doesn't like it. That's also not democracy."

Mr Kenyatta added: “Those meetings have not been about selecting a candidate. It is by saying, what is it that we agree on, do we agree on it, how do we birth this baby that we have all believed in? Nobody wants to leave anybody out because at the end of the day, if we actually come together and find people of common mind and want to push a particular agenda, then you have to do it.”

The meetings, he said, were not to select his successor in next year's elections.

President Kenyatta said the DP's plans for the State House race were wrong.

"I do not know what happened (to occasion the falling-out). I just think he (DP Ruto) is trying to create a base for future politics, which is his right, but the manner he is doing it is unfortunate. By going against the same government he is in, is wrong. What we are trying to achieve with BBI is what brought him and I together in 2013. If he supported the other one, why not back this one to get even more people? " asked President Kenyatta.

On the BBI, President Kenyatta says he disagrees with the ruling, one he, nonetheless, says he respects.

"BBI is not personal for me. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. Part of my agenda is to bring people together and maintain a peaceful, stable, united country. The courts have been highly misguided on that process, it is not a competition issue,” he said.

“I have heard some people say BBI was to make Raila President. Far from it. BBI is out and Raila is saying he will be on the ticket. Or that BBI is for Uhuru to extend his term. There is no clause in the BBI that says Uhuru will continue with his term.

“It is propaganda made by people. Instead of seeing it for what it is as a unity bid, now you want to use it to propel someone to leadership by using lies.”

On the 2022 elections, President Kenyatta denied any plans to postpone the polls or extend his term.

"I have not heard talks on election postponement. I am ready for an election at the prescribed time. That’s the schedule I am working towards," he said.

He insisted he will not be pushed from his Big Four Agenda, which he said was still on course.

"How many times have I told you people that I am very grateful to the almighty God and people of Kenya for the opportunity they have given me. I am more than happy to serve out my term and finish my programmes,” he said.

“I believe this is part of my agenda. To be able to bring people together and to be able to ensure that we have a peaceful, stable and united country and that is why I have been keen on it.”