Deputy President William Ruto flew out on Tuesday, July 6, to meet Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
The Ugandan President invited Deputy President William Ruto as his chief guest for the official laying of the foundation stone for a vaccine manufacturing facility.
The event took place at a location in Matuga, Wakiso district where the construction of the Biological Drugs and mRNA vaccine facility under the Dei Group is ongoing.
Museveni revealed that his government remains committed to funding research and innovations by Ugandan scientists.
The Deputy President was in high spirits during the proceedings of the unveiling of the facility.
"We are keen to building partnerships with other African countries to move the continent away from only packaging and labelling of drugs to the restructuring of its market to focus more on upstream production.
This new commitment to buying locally manufactured vaccine doses at large-scale will ease African countries’ import bill, enhance their export earnings and sustainably boost the ordinary people’s health status." read DP Ruto's statement at the event.
President Museveni and Ruto have enjoyed a cordial relationship in the past, with Ruto previously joining Museveni on his campaign trail in 2015 when he was traversing his country seeking re-election.
The Ugandan head of state also gifted DP Ruto Ksh10 million towards the construction of the William Ruto Leadership Institute at Makerere University during his birthday in 2019.
DP Ruto laid the foundation stone for the institute flanked by members of Museveni's cabinet.
The invitation by Museveni comes at a time when Ruto is seen as an outcast in Uhuru’s government, having been sidelined by the President.
The DP was recently involved in a match of rhetoric, hurling insults between Raila and himself. Ruto had been responding to Raila’s claims that he would jail him and his allies, should he be elected president in 2022.
The war of words between the Deputy President and Raila is likely to be protracted for 2022 elections as the two remain at loggerheads.
