DP Ruto: Uhuru has judged me harshly

Deputy President Dr William Ruto on Sunday lamented that President Uhuru Kenyatta wrongly judged him as someone who could not protect his interests while outside government.

Speaking in Murang'a County where he took his Kenya Kwanza Alliance, Dr Ruto said the President is his friend and there was no way he could betray that friendship even when he retires.

“We been through many challenges together including facing the International Criminal Court (ICC) with him...We faced Mr Raila Odinga opposition together in 2002, 2013 and twice in 2017. I also consider myself to be his friend. It was a mistake to alienate me for Mr Odinga," he said.

"My greatest shock was that, even if he felt I was not fit to succeed him, certainly by settling on Mr Odinga who had so far given us all sorts of political problems was the epitome of fine betrayal," he said.

The DP assured President Kenyatta that if he wins in the August 9 polls, he will protect his legacy and that of his family. 

However, his brigade accused the President and his strategists of capturing the national economy to a point that it is controlled by cartels and brokers.

They said the end result has been an economy that is exclusionist where it favours only the rich.

Dr Ruto said the exclusionist nature of the economy has seen the gap between the rich and the poor widen, with the middle-class now bearing the "cruel effects of taxation."

Dr Ruto said he will sail through despite the odds and continue to deliver the national economy from the “exclusive club capture” and hand it over to Kenyans where all will enjoy equal opportunity.

"My government will ensure that tenders can be bided for and won competitively, export and import licences be liberalized and taxation brackets be commensurate with earnings. Above all, we will ensure indigenous companies are protected from unfair competition by multinationals," he said.

Amani National Congress Party leader Musalia Mudavadi accused the Uhuru administration of excluding Dr Ruto from his constitutional mandate of deputising the president. 

"The systematic alienation of Dr Ruto from seat of power was for purposes of consolidating economic opportunities to an exclusive club. They have borrowed Sh8 trillion and intending to go on until they hit Sh12 trillion by August 9. That is money that has gone to selected few but which will be paid for with interest by all of us," he said.

Mr Mudavadi said "these people around the president calling others thieves are the true reflection of how thieves look like both by birth, occupation and practice."