The cold war between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, once again played out as the Head of State bid goodbye to his Cabinet at State House.
Uhuru met Cabinet Secretaries at State House, Nairobi, on Wednesday, June 1.
However, DP Ruto was absent from the event as CSs surprised Uhuru with songs on the State House lawn.
Ruto's spokesperson, Emmanuel Talam, lamented that the DP was not invited to State House, a trend that has been witnessed since 2018 when the two leaders fell out.
“The DP wasn't invited to the State House event,” Talam told Nation.
All the CSs present at the event lauded Uhuru for steering the nation while the President in turn thanked them for standing with him, sacrificing and securing his legacy.
“The last nine and a half years have been out of this world. I couldn't have asked for anything better," Sports CS Amina Mohamed stated.
"Now all the county and deputy county commissioners have cars to move around. In 2013 these are things you could not talk about. Most of the time they did not have fuel and that is a bygone," Interior CS Fred Matiang’i appreciated Uhuru uplifting the National Police Service (NPS).
“I want to thank each and every one of you. We have worked together and it has been both a pleasure and an honour,” Uhuru responded.
Meanwhile, the DP received the President at Uhuru Gardens as the Head of State led Kenyans in commemorating Madaraka Day, his last national holiday in office.
The two had appeared to have ended their differences during the National Prayer Breakfast held at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi on Thursday, May 26.
Ruto pleaded with his boss to forgive him if he had fallen short of his expectations while serving under him.
“I also know that serving as the Deputy President, I may have fallen short of expectations of my boss His Excellency the President my good friend, I ask for your forgiveness," Ruto prayed.
Uhuru casually responded, deviating from making a truce with his DP and instead responded to Ruto’s wish to see him retire in peace after the August 9 polls.
"I do hope the prayers of DP Ruto on my retirement come true, I am looking forward to peace and enjoyment in the years to come," Uhuru played coy.
Nonetheless, Ruto as synonyms with his character of praising and trolling Uhuru at the same time, ridiculed the President at a rally in Kilifi the very next day.
"As you look at me, do I look like someone whose votes can be stolen? Let us be honest, that is daydreaming and it is impossible. Is there a system that as deputy president I don't know of or even that deep state? These people will not do anything," he added.
"I want to say without any fear of contradiction, my competitor has no capacity to do anything about port operations and the land issues because his sponsors (Uhuru) are actually the problem. He is a project and if you want any work done, you must talk to the owner,” Ruto attacked both Uhuru and Azimio La Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga.
