Nairobi — President William Ruto has hit back at Azimio leader Raila Odinga after the latter termed his presidency "illegitimate" demanding for an independent audit to expose what he described as an electoral fraud.
Speaking in Gatundu where he attended the funeral of Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria's sister Pauline on Monday, Ruto termed Odinga's fresh demands as a ploy to blackmail him into cooperation talks.
"We know where he is heading. All this circus is so that we have a handshake because that is what he has done will all regimes since Moi," Ruto said.
"My friends, isn't it time you change tactics?" he posed. "There's no way you will outwit me. Forget about matters handshake."
Ruto dismissed Odinga's claim that his presidency is illegitimate as baseless.
"Look for someone else to intimidate. I was elected by the people in broad daylight and you lost with the so-called deep state on you side."
Ruto said he will not please a clique of a few individuals at the expense of overarching national interests.
"All these demos are not in the interest of mwananchi. Government will not be blackmailed to serve the interests of a few people. We will serve the citizens regardless of political affiliations," he asserted.
The Head of State cautioned Odinga against engineering chaos though regular mass gatherings saying State organs will counter any attempt to make the county ungovernable and disrupt his administration's economic transformation agenda.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Economic disruption
"We will not allow you to disrupt out economy. That will not happen," stated.
Ruto also responded to Odinga's challenge asking him to present evidence of a plot to murder electoral commission Chairperson Wafula Chebukati.
He said documented cases of disappearances and dumping of bodies at Yala River was a clear indicate of state-sanctioned murders under the handshake-era regime.
"Are we saying all those bodies recovered from Yala River dumped themselves? Weren't they part of the so-called system that planned these things?" he posed.
Ruto said his government will ruthlessly tackle the culture of impunity which he asserted was entrenched during the second term of his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta who sealed a deal with Odinga in March 2018 later christened 'the handshake'.
