Azimio Official Confronts Ruto During Q&A Session in London [VIDEO]

Deputy President William Ruto speaks during a meeting with Kenyans in UK
Deputy President William Ruto speaks during a meeting with Kenyans in UK.
File

Deputy President William Ruto, on Monday, March 7, found himself on the spotlight after an official attached to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Azimio la Umoja movement confronted him in the UK.

Rosemary Adigor, the Public Relations and Marketing Director of Azimio's UK Chapter, posed a tough question during the DP's Q&A session at Chatham House. 

Adigor wanted to know what Ruto would do differently after sharing half of the government during President Uhuru Kenyatta's first term.

Deputy President William Ruto addressing bishops at Loyola University in Maryland on Wednesday March 2, 2022
Deputy President William Ruto addressing bishops at Loyola University in Maryland on Wednesday, March 2, 2022
DPPS

She also challenged to state whether he would concede defeat if he lost the August 9 poll as well as how the UDA presidential aspirant would deal with rampant graft if elected President. 

With his charisma, however, Ruto refuted that he had been given powers by the Head of State to appoint his own members of the Cabinet.

He appeared to dismiss reports of a power-sharing agreement between him and President Uhuru where they were to share out key positions.

The president recently alluded to the agreement - noting that at the time of the handshake with Raila - he had nothing to give the former Prime Minister because he had already given half of his government to the DP

"I have been Deputy President for nine years and I don't know which dockets were given to me because President Uhuru Kenyatta formed the government after elections, we have only had one President. We have never had two.

"The responsibility of a government has never been shared between Uhuru Kenyatta and me. In our first term, we ran a coalition government but I can tell you, there was no single opportunity where my party held a Parliamentary Group (PG) meeting outside President Uhuru's party. We had one PG, one government and one team, It was all clear," stated the DP.

"There were no dockets that were given to me. I did not appoint any minister anywhere. Everybody was appointed by the President of Kenya," he explained.

The DP further maintained that he had carried out his mandate as directed by the head of state without any qualms.

Regarding cracks between the duo, the DP downplayed the claims arguing that President Uhuru preferred dropping the Uhuruto slogan and having his own independent legacy. 

"Unfortunately in our second term, because of the political dynamics that came into play, the President told me that he wanted to do things differently and he did not want what had become normal as Uhuruto. He wanted a Uhuru.

"When he told me that is what he wanted. He wanted his legacy alone as the fourth President, I was not fussy about it," he added.

To prove his point, he explained that they constructed 700kilometers of Standard Gauge Railway and over 10,000 

Previously, the President disclosed that he had kept the DP in the loop before extending a hand of truce to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, which seemed to be the origin of a fallout between the duo. 

Below is the video:

{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/ZnJQgm6jB64.jpg?itok=36D_T9UM","video_url":"","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}