President William Ruto admitted that he was warned by Defence Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale about folding the United Republican Party (URP) to form the Jubilee Party in 2016.
In Duale’s memoir, For The Record, Ruto noted that he believed the merger of URP and The National Alliance (TNA) was a miscalculated move.
However, he trusted Uhuru and could not believe that 'the President (Rtd) could stab him in the back'.
"William, I think we are making a mistake," he (Duale) stated. He recalled the single-party era when political dreams were killed and ambitions crushed inside the ruling party. A Jubilee party could do that, he warned.
"No, let's do it. Let's merge our parties. If it works, it's a victory for the country. If it flops, at least we'll say we tried. We cannot have ethnic parties. We must change our politics," I told him,” Ruto recalled his conversation with Duale, in the book's forward.
This humbling confession by Ruto offers insight into how detailed the book, which offers intrigues into the Jubilee administration, is.
“He (Duale) had learned how to read people very well, and he knew how some politicians behaved. I still had trust in the capacity of people to do good. I believed that we, all the politicians in Jubilee, wanted the best for Kenya. National unity was at the top of that agenda.
“As it turned out, he was right. I was wrong,” Ruto revealed.
Additionally, Ruto divulged that former President Uhuru Kenyatta betrayed them without any clear indication.
“That bubble of a united country burst in the first Jubilee Parliamentary Group Meeting after the 2017 elections. The President went ballistic as he laid down his second and final term agenda. He read a riot act and emphasised that things had to be different in his second term.
“I was a Deputy President, completely at his mercy. He was the President, the man who held the destiny of Kenya in his hands. There was only one centre of power, he said. It disturbed me, but that was the job-serving at the pleasure of the President. I took it like a man,” Ruto continued.
He also lamented that Uhuru’s close friends started insulting him and was later shocked to hear Uhuru accusing him of plotting to impeach him together with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
“Months later, I was shocked when the President turned around and said that he had to dump me because he knew I was working with Raila to impeach him. It didn't make sense. I was not angry, I was horrified. Why would I help him regain power and then push for his removal?
“I was ashamed on his behalf, because, through his utterances, the politics of lies, deceit and betrayal was now firmly inside State House,” Ruto lamented.
Uhuru, before the election, accused Ruto of early campaigns and derailing the Jubilee agenda.
On March 9, 2018, Uhuru made a pact with Raila in what was popularly known as ‘the handshake’, further supporting the opposition leader's fifth stab at the presidency.
UDA Wants Kenya Kwanza Parties Folded
President William Ruto appeared to have been reading from Uhuru's script when he instructed United Democratic Alliance secretary general, Cleophas Malala, to order Kenya Kwanza sister parties to fold and join UDA.
Malala explained that the move would help quell infighting among the affiliate parties and help Ruto's administration deliver its campaign pledges.
Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi's, Amani National Congress (ANC) were among the parties that were opposed to the move.
