DP Ruto: 'Mudavadi, Wetang'ula okay with no posts'

 

Deputy President William Ruto chats with ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi during an economic forum at Mungatsi technical institute at Nambale in Busia county on May 6, 2022. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

 

Deputy President William Ruto has said it won’t be a big deal if his coalition partners Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula miss out on top slots in the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.

Dr Ruto said all that mattered was fulfilling their campaign pledges to the people.

“We in Kenya Kwanza have agreed - even with my two brothers Mudavadi and Wetang’ula - that what matters is not what position the two will get but what is beneficial to wananchi,” he said at Mungatsi Technical Institute in Nambale, Busia County, during an economic forum.

This comes even as some of Mudavadi’s hardliners like Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala insist the 62-year-old ANC leader who vied for presidency in 2013 is best suited to deputise Ruto.

Mudavadi, a former vice-president (2002), appeared to back the DP, saying what mattered was the livelihood of Kenyans and not politicians’ individual interests.

“As a coalition, we will work as a team. If others must occupy (top) seats, then let me and my brother Wetang’ula step back if it will translate into (Kenya Kwanza) winning the August presidential polls,” he said. “Let’s unite as a people and win the (presidential) vote in the first round.”

Mudavadi at the same time took a swipe at President Uhuru Kenyatta for castigating his deputy for government failures, saying Uhuru was the architect of Jubilee’s failure as he failed to convene Cabinet meetings for about two years.

“And interestingly, he (Uhuru) has sat in more Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and Azimio meetings than he has sat in his own Cabinet,” he said.

The former Finance minister also rubbished data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics showing economic activities expanded 7.5 per cent compared to a contraction of 0.3 per cent a year earlier.

He said the projections read by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani were misleading and “farfetched”.

“If you are not feeling the effects of the economic growth, it obviously means the economy is not working for all because the reality on the ground is different. Prices of common commodities have skyrocketed and many can’t afford a square meal,” he said.

He urged Busia residents who have been voting overwhelmingly for ODM and Raila since 2007 to stop as “Raila had changed to become Uhuru Kenyatta’s stooge”.

“The Raila I knew back then is not the one I see on TV today. He is not the one Ruto supported in 2007,” he said. “His Azimio coalition is also headed nowhere as the odds indicate. Look, Uhuru, a partner in Azimio, has even failed to win over his own MP Moses Kuria to the coalition. How can you in Busia be convinced to back him?”

Wetang’ula, who will be defending his Bungoma senatorial seat, steered clear of positions topic, calling on the people to vote for Kenya Kwanza as it had a better economic blueprint to revive the economy.

“Musalia and I are in Kenya Kwanza for a reason; please join us. We have been voting for our brother Raila all along but have nothing to show for it even after he joined hands with Uhuru Kenyatta and received handshake goodies,” he said.