At least, no one will accuse me of stealing COVID-19 funds- Ruto laughs off spectator tag

Deputy President William Ruto has laughed off a newspaper headline referring him as a spectator in the Jubilee Government.

Taking to Twitter, the second-in-command said at least no one would blame him for the wanton graft that has beleaguered the Health Ministry.

“At least for once it won’t be possible to be blamed for what someone said “started in Wuhan as a virus, landed in Italy as a pandemic and now in Kenya as a multi-billion shilling corruption enterprise”. Wacha niendelee kama spectator. ISORAIT,” DP Ruto wrote on Twitter.

The Standard Newspaper headline referred to Ruto as spectator in the government that he had helped form, saying despite refuting claims that he had been sidelined, he had been reduced to holding tea parties at his Karen home with no clear role in the government.

Although DP Ruto has not publicly acknowledged a disintegration of his relationship with his boss,  a reorganization in the government left without a clear role.

Interior CS Fred Matiangi elevation to position of supervising, coordinating and public communication regarding all government programmes and projects, pundits say, means the CS is a de facto Prime Minister.

The president delegated the powers to Matiang’i in an Executive Order that for the first time, gave  CS Matiangi an expansive responsibility to chair and coordinate government development programmes and projects.

The move had drawn mixed reactions, with some saying it undermined Ruto as Matiangi would report directly to the president.

Ruto allies were also bundled out from key positions, in a move the Jubilee said was aimed at helping the president deliver his mandate.

DP Ruto recently appeared to criticize the government, after calling out an apparent abuse of power in which police officers were deployed to arrest 3 senators who were opposed to a contentious state-backed revenue sharing formula.

Critics wondered why he could not reach out to the government agencies involved instead of tackling it at a public baraza.