President-elect William Ruto says he thinks outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta is unhappy his preferred candidate lost the August 9 election.
Ruto made the sentiments during an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour Wednesday.
He told the anchor his predecessor had not sent him a congratulatory message.
Ruto had been asked if his boss had been in touch since the election.
"Unfortunately, President Kenyatta has not seen it fit to congratulate me. Maybe he's a bit disillusioned or maybe he's unhappy that I defeated his candidate, but that is the nature of politics." Ruto said.
Hours before his interview, he tweeted that he had had a conversation with Uhuru about the transition process.
Ruto has also pledged to unite the country, adding he had reached out to his competitor Raila Odinga.
He also hinted at building alliances which according to him are aimed at uniting the country.
"The administration that I'm going to run is going to be an administration that is going to serve all Kenyans equally, whether they voted for us or they did not," said Ruto.
When questioned about the peace and stability of the country, he said the country was maturing and intimated the situation will be better in the next five years.
"I think it speaks to the heart of the maturity of the democracy of our country. No citizen, no leader wants their country to be famous for violence," he told CNN.
"We can go to an election, we can decide who our leaders are and the next day we can go back to work. That is the standard we have raised for ourselves as the people of Kenya, I am very proud of it," he added.
Ruto has also told Amanpour that he will work for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine in order to allow more grain shipments from the country to reach East Africa.
The veteran journalist grilled Kenya's fifth Head of State on human rights, specifically his previous comments on homosexuality in Kenyan.
He is on record saying that there was "no room" for homosexuality in Kenya.
"I am very clear that we respect everybody and what they believe in, but we also have what we believe in and we expect to be respected for what we believe in," the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party leader said.
The outgoing Deputy President said he did not think that LGBTQ rights are an important topic for Kenyans.
"We do not want to create a mountain out of a molehill," he said, adding that he prefers to focus his efforts on unemployment and hunger. "When it becomes a big issue for the people of Kenya, the people of Kenya will make a choice."
Amanpour also pressed president-elect Ruto on his controversial remarks, where he said he will deport Chinese nationals from Kenya.
He has argued that he had been taken out of context explaining that he was referring to Chinese nationals who work without a permit.
"Everybody will do business, everybody will do whatever they want to do so long as they are doing it within the law. Anybody that operates outside the law, it doesn't matter where they come from, they will be sent back from where they came from," he told CNN.
