DP Ruto claims political alliances aimed at blocking him from State House

Deputy President William Ruto on Tuesday said the ongoing formulation of political alliances are aimed at scuttling his bid to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta in next year’s election.

Speaking at his Karen residence, the deputy president said Kenyans will be the ultimate loser, should they ignore his hustler narrative and bottom up economic model.

DP Ruto’s continued dismissal of coalitions as assemblies of ethnic chiefs and insistence on direct access to the voters, through the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) appears to rub a section of political leaders the wrong way.

While his political arch-rivals were firming up alliances to propel their August 2022 State House bids, the DP maintained his Karen-based campaigns, receiving a delegation of Tharaka Nithi County clergy at his official residence.

Ruto scoffed at the ongoing talk of coalitions, one between President Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party and Raila Odinga’s ODM, saying the alliance was being cobbled up solely to frustrate his presidential bid.

“Hamuwezi kusema ati mnataka kukutana ndiyo Ruto asiwashinde, sasa nitakosaje kushinda nyinyi na hamna plan? Na Wakenya wanatafuta plan, na hiyo plan ndio tuko nayo…njia ni kutafuta a better plan, lakini kusema tu ati mnataka kuungana, that’s not a plan, hiyo ni maneno tu ya bure,” he said.

Ruto has insisted he would not seek to form coalitions with other party leaders, but would directly appeal to the voters, through his UDA outfit and the hustler narrative and the bottom up economic model.

“We are witnesses that by uniting people in a national political party, a national political movement, a lot can be achieved in matters development. That is why we refuse to be divided and driven into tribal parties where divisions and hate reside,” he stated.

Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung’wah, on his part, said: “Tumechoshwa na kuambiwa mambo ya mtu wa kwetu, tunataka mtu ambaye atabeba maslahi na mambo yetu kwa serikali.”

With 357 days to the presidential race, Ruto claims State security machinery has been directed against him and  his allies to scuttle his bid.

“Blackmail, threats, intimidation is the language of tribalists and people who want to divide us…these are merchants of division, and we’re telling them we will not buy fear because it is ungodly,” said the DP.

With a ban on political rallies, ruto has opted to meet delegations of political, religious and opinion leaders at his Karen residence, ostensibly, to use them as agents of his presidential bid.