Deputy President William Ruto escalated his onslaught on President Uhuru Kenyatta, claiming that he is a refugee in the opposition camp headed by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Ruto made the hard-hitting statements while addressing delegates at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) in Washington DC on Thursday, March 3.
Part of his allegations was centred on the handshake, which he claimed interfered with the Jubilee administration's agenda. Ruto pointed out issues he believed were weaknesses of Uhuru's administration, lamenting that Raila is running the government while Uhuru is spearheading the opposition.
He further called on the US scholars to conduct a study on Kenya which he said was being managed in a peculiar way.
“The supposed opposition leader is a puppet of the government and the leader of the ruling party is a refugee in the opposition.
"Maybe scientists, policymakers in this great institution can do research on what is going on in Kenya because the opposition is running the government and the government is running the opposition which is quite a situation," Ruto remarked.
He added that the oversight role of the opposition was undermined by the handshake citing the rising cases of graft within the government.
"This is the reason why some of us were said to be against the handshake. We do not have an opposition. There is an organization and we do not know what it is," he stated.
The DP alleged that over Ksh100 billion was being misappropriated and that the government was disbursing money to independent institutions to suppress them.
“The other issue is budgeted graft. Today you have close to Ks100 billion budgeted every year that has no oversight in opaque institutions.
“That amount has grown between four to five-fold in the last 10 years. Where you have accountability problems and oversight challenges, the more money you put in opaque institutions, the greater the mismanagement in there,” he stated.
Ruto promised that he would be proactive in the battle against graft if he succeeds Uhuru after the August 9 polls. He further reiterated his claims that there was a plan to rig votes in the upcoming polls.
ODM Chairman, John Mbadi refuted Ruto's claims and lauded Uhuru for supporting Raila. Speaking to the press in Nairobi, the Suba South MP argued Ruto had sensed defeat and was laying in place measures to contest the results.
Uhuru, while speaking to delegates at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri, in February 2022, also defended Raila and clarified that the two never settled on sharing power during their handshake.
He clarified that he asked the former Prime Minister to aid him to unite the country and that he had already shared the government equally with Ruto in their pre-election pact.
