Kenya: Don't Blame Me! I Have Fully Undertaken My Duties as Deputy President - Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto.

Nairobi — "I will not carry the cross of failures in the delivery of manifesto pledges for the Jubilee government"

This was the assurance of Deputy President William Ruto as he spoke in Bungoma during a Kenya Kwanza rally where he was accompanied by co-principals Musalia Mudavdai and Moses Wetangula.

Ruto stated he is not to blame for the dismal delivery of the President Uhuru Kenyatta administration as his duties were "delegated to failures."

"I stood with President Kenyatta all the way until when he told me that am no longer needed. He went and looked for other people to help him but now Kenyatta has realized that those people have not helped him in any way," he said.

"Nobody should blame me those who failed should carry their cross, they should not blame me. If you (Kenyatta) blame me then its true that when a hyena want to eat his children they first claim that their children smell like sheep," he added.

The Deputy President absolved himself from the botched pledges by the Jubilee regime saying ever since President Kenyatta found new political friends, he had no option but to take a back seat.

"Nobody should tell me I made a mistake by accepting that other people can also help the President discharge his reasonability and deliver his legacy," Ruto noted.

Ruto dared those asking him to resign as the second in command to outline any duties that he has failed to deliver because they point accusing fingers.

"Don't blame me for issues that I was never involved in. When I was helping mu friend Uhuru there was no gap. Those telling me to resign they should tell me what responsibility I have failed to implement," he said.

"I have discharged every responsibility discharged to me by the constitution by the law and the president. Am the Deputy President until the 8th of August this year," he added.

President Kenyatta had accused him of doing nothing to help in addressing the rising cost of living.

During the Labour Day celebrations at the Nyayo Stadium on Sunday, President Kenyatta, blasted his deputy for faulting him over the rising cost of living yet he is not the cause.

"Instead of coming to help me and offer your advice, you are busy in the market abusing people and you are calling yourself a leader of a higher rank. You should have left long ago I get some else to help me work,"said President Kenyatta.

Ruto has been at loggerheads with the government in which he serves after a bitter fall-out with his boss President Kenyatta since March 2018 when the latter shook hands with Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The DP said he sees the handshake as a plot to lock him out of the 2022 State House race in which he hopes to succeed President Kenyatta whose second and final term will be ending.

President Kenyatta and his deputy have now turned foes by throwing insults at each other in recent weeks as the succession politics hots up, with Kenyatta declaring publicly that he won't allow Ruto to succeed him.

Kenyatta is openly campaigning for Opposition leader Raila Odinga who was endorsed recently as the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate.

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