According to a leaked audio recording, Deputy President William Ruto was embroiled in a heated argument with his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta in the hours following the annulment of their 2017 election victory.
The recording, which shows DP Ruto addressing Kikuyu elders at his official Karen residence in Nairobi on Friday, sheds light on the tense hours following the Supreme Court’s unprecedented decision.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate told the Kikuyu elders that President Kenyatta was so distraught by the Supreme Court decision ordering a rerun of the election that he nearly gave up the fight for a second term, and it was only due to his insistence that he agreed to run again in the second poll, which was boycotted by the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate Raila Odinga.
The Deputy President, who has since split with his boss, claims that on September 1, 2017, after the Supreme Court’s decision, he went to State House to meet with the President, where he had a tense discussion with him: “So, ndiyo huyo… Oh, sasa, hii maneno, sijui nini, mimi sitaki, mimi nataki kuenda Ichaweri, sasa mimi sitaki, wacha tuachane na hii kitu.” (Here is the President and he says he is not keen on taking part in the repeat elections and that he wants to go to Ichaweri (his home village in Kiambu County), that we should abandon this thing.”
“Mimi nikamwangalia, nikamwambia ‘wewe’! Ni vile tu nilikua na heshima, ningemchapa kofi. Ati sisi tuache?” (I looked at him and told him ‘you!’ It’s only that I was being respectful, I would have slapped him. How could we just quit?)
Captain Kung’u Muigai, President Kenyatta’s cousin, was among the Kikuyu elders who paid DP Ruto a visit at his Karen residence.
Only those with an official invitation were permitted to attend the meeting, as is customary with admission to the State House and the DP’s official residence, but the Sunday Nation has obtained a recording of a part of DP Ruto’s address to the elders. Attendees at the meeting, including Capt. Muigai and Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, confirmed the recording’s contents.
To avoid being caught off guard by an adverse ruling, the DP claims to have repeatedly asked President Kenyatta to take a “keen interest” in the Supreme Court petition, which was led at the time by retired Chief Justice David Maraga.
“I had told the president to take a keen interest… He assured me that he was in-charge and everything was fine,” said DP Ruto. “In reality, the door had been left wide open and some people went in and spoilt everything. Isn’t that so?” he posed.
The Deputy President further claims to have told President Kenyatta that there was no way the ruling Jubilee party could have lost the polls.
Ati tutoke hapa?’ Hapana, hapana, hapana. Na ni kura tumeshinda? Kwani alikua ametushinda wapi? Tumeshinda wabunge, tumeshinda ma governor, tumeshinda senators wengi—tumefanya hiyo kazi yote. (I told him there was no way we could just quit when we had won the election. We had more MPs, more governors and senators. We had done a lot of work),” Mr Ruto told his guests.
According to the DP, after the conversation, they both left State House and went to Burma Market, where the President began to process what had just happened.
A tough-talking Mr Kenyatta made the “we shall revisit” remark at the market, as he lashed out at the Supreme Court for invalidating his re-election.
“Before the Supreme Court ruling, I was the president-elect but Maraga and his team have declared the election as null and void…I am the incumbent President with full powers. Maraga should know he is dealing with a sitting President,” he said then.
Mr Muigai and Mr Kuria, who were both present at the meeting on Friday, confirmed the details of the recording of the deputy president’s address.
“That came up and he was very clear that Uhuru was so disappointed and discouraged and actually thought about not participating in the repeat election. Personally, I can attest to that. That is true. It is Ruto who told him ‘No, you can’t do that. You cannot walk away like we have been defeated’. I am in very close proximity to both of them. It is Ruto who said that they could not just quit,” said Mr Muigai.
Mr Kuria also corroborated the statements uttered in the recording.
“The DP said he was with the President, and the President was almost giving up but he told him he could not give up. He was just overwhelmed. It is the DP who made him strong and told him he could not give up. The president was fatigued with the fight,” said Mr Kuria yesterday.
A former high-ranking State Department official, on the other hand, dismissed the claims, saying the president did not need convincing to run in the re-election.
