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  by Rawlings Otieno

Deputy President William Ruto yesterday said he is not in a hurry to name his running mate in next year’s presidential election.

Speaking during an interview on Radio Jambo, Ruto said he will name his running mate at the right time and after consultations with stakeholders.

Ruto said that even though he was confident of winning the presidential election, he would concede defeat if he lost.

“I will accept the outcome of the elections if I lose. If you see others, ask them if they will accept the outcome of the elections,” said Ruto.

He attributed election disputes to people he accused of not believing in democracy and who will never accept defeat in elections.

“We need to agree that when I am defeated I will accept the outcome. I want to tell you that not all these people can say that. Even now, we are wasting time with changing the Constitution.

We can change it 100 times but if the one who is defeated does not concede, he will still bring issues and even swear himself in,” Ruto said in a veiled attack on Opposition leader Raila Odinga who took a mock oath of office after losing in the 2017 General-Election.

Although he has not declared his candidature, Raila is widely seen as the DP’s main competitor in next year’s presidential election.

2007 dispute

Ruto said the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) document does not contain a provision on what should happen if a candidate is defeated in the presidential vote.

“In this BBI, it is written nowhere that someone will concede. I do not have any problem with IEBC,” he said.

He was, however, reminded that he was part of the Orange Democratic Movement team that refused to concede defeat of its presidential candidate, Raila, in the 2007 election, leading to widespread violence and loss of lives.

“In 2007 elections, it was not us the leaders or the Opposition who said there was a problem.

It was the chair of the commission who said there was a problem. He is the one who said he did not know what happened. It was not us,” he said.

“But finally when it was decided we accepted and moved on to the Opposition. Since then did we swear in anyone? We just accepted,” he added.

November exodus

Ruto was among the ODM politicians who protested the electoral commission’s declaration that President Mwai Kibaki’s had been re-elected.

During yesterday’s interview, Ruto said there would be a huge political shift before next year’s elections to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on whose ticket he is expected to run for president.

He claimed  that many politicians were willing to associate with him but were afraid of the consequences. They would, however, make their stand close to the elections, he said.

“All the Jubilee leaders holding positions are just waiting for the right time. In November, you will see dust in Kenya. You will be astonished.

They have instilled fear among the people, that if you make a move in this direction, we will launch a case against you, we will send DCI to your doorstep,” he said.

Credit to Raila

Ruto blamed the Handshake deal between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila for the disharmony in the ruling Jubilee.

“The Jubilee Party has failed to meet its intended vision of eradicating ethnicity in politics and uniting the country, hence the need to seek a better option,” he said.

He also took a swipe at the manner in which the Jubilee Party was being run.

“Five female MPs are being haunted by Jubilee seeking to remove them. When the desire to kick out some members starts, that marks the end of that party,” he said

Ruto, however, said Raila’s ODM had a more national image than many other political parties.

“Even if I am competing with Raila, I must give him credit for ensuring that ODM is a national party,” he said.