President Uhuru Kenyatta has come to the defence of Opposition leader Raila Odinga over persistent claims that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader is scheming to destroy the Jubilee party ahead of the 2022 presidential race.
Uhuru revealed the former prime minister has never told him he is planning to take another stab at the the presidency again in 2022 as most Kenyans may have been made to believe.
Speaking during the the inaugural AfroChampions Boma forum on African infrastructure financing and delivery on Wednesday, April 17, the president stated all they have been discussing with Raila is how to improve lives of Kenyans.
"He (Raila) has never told me he wants to be president in 2022. And I have also never told him I want to president in 2022.
What we have been talking about are issues affecting our people," he said in reference to numerous claims made by Deputy President William Ruto and his political allies.
Deputy President William Ruto and his political allies have on numerous occasions accused Raila Odinga of plotting to destroy the Jubilee party. Photo: TUKO.
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The DP and his allies has on a number of occasions accused Raila of plotting to destroy the Jubilee party using the March 2018 peace pact, popularly known as the handshake, with the president as an excuse.
On September 30, 2018, Ruto told the ODM party leader to desist from causing confusion in the Jubilee party in the name of the handshake.
“We know what the handshake deal entails because we initiated it before President Uhuru Kenyatta entered into a deal with you (Raila).
We are very clear on what it is not. Therefore, do not bring confusion,” the DP said when he was addressing residents of Majaoni in Kisauni where he had gone to issue title deeds.
And speaking during the Pastoralists Leadership Summit in Garissa on March 1, 2019, Ruto alleged Raila was meddling in Jubilee's affairs with the aim of wrecking the party.
"He is a master of propaganda and that is known. He is the same person who told his friends that he opted to work with Jubilee as part of his scheme to dismantle this party. He should know we have a shortage of fools," he said.
On March 15, 2019, the DP once again accused the Opposition chief of trying to hijack Jubilee's unity agenda and destroy the ruling party using the handshake and went further to warn they would not allow him to rock Jubilee's boat.
“Let us stay focused. We will not allow them to hijack our unity agenda and destroy our party so that we go back to politics of ethnicity and divisions,” Ruto said during the launch of ISO accreditation for Tabaka Mission Hospital Medical Testing Laboratory in Kisii county.
These are just some of the instances where the DP accused the former prime minister of trying to bring down the Jubilee party, claims that his boss has now dismissed as untrue.