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Kenya: Ruto Says Handshake Strained Friendship With President Kenyatta

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4 years ago

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Nairobi — Deputy President William Ruto has yet again pointed fingers at the handshake as the catalyst that led to a frosty relationship with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

While admitting that he was indeed aware of the handshake between President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, he revealed that it quickly mutated into a plot to kill the opposition in the country.

“The handshake was formed to kill oversight of the government, we didn’t discuss that members of ruling party would be jettisoned so that members of the opposition can occupy committees in parliament,” said Ruto

Speaking during an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), the Deputy President stated that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) aimed at changing the constitution was not part of the agreement between him, President Kenyatta and Odinga in the formation.

Ruto pointed out that he was left in the dark when it came to the details surrounding the March 2018 handshake.

“We didn’t agree that this was an exercise in changing the constitution and form an exercise of succession. Everything we didn’t agree became the handshake, expect from the things we didn’t agree about,” he said.

In his current tour in the United States of America, Ruto painted a picture of how Odinga and Kenyatta betrayed him while formalizing the handshake that now seems to edge him out of government and by extension draw him further from his presidential ambition.

“I have no problem with the handshake, my problem is that it became what I did not agree with,” he stated.