Deputy President William Ruto yesterday took on his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, during his ongoing tour of the United States saying he had become a refugee in the Opposition.  

In a bare-knuckle criticism of the Handshake between the President and ODM leader Raila Odinga in March 2018, Ruto  said they lost the government to the Opposition after that, leaving the President at the mercy of those he had closed ranks with. 

He claimed Raila has been running the government with Uhuru since then.

The DP, who is on an extensive tour of the United States, sustained a hammer and tongs onslaught at Uhuru’s administration,  saying the ‘handshake’ had brought a lot of confusion in the running of the country to the extent that it was not clear who was in government and who was not.

Speaking when he was hosted by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for a conversation on Kenyan politics and policy, he said there was no longer an opposition movement or party to check the government, accusing Raila of becoming a “puppet” of the ruling administration.

“We lost the ruling party; we lost the government agenda and we all ended up losers. We lost almost four years chasing a mirage that did not really work. The supposed opposition leader has become a puppet of the government and the leader of the ruling party is now a refugee in the opposition. It is quite a situation,” he said.

The DP, who has occupied the position for the past nine years under Uhuru — although he has been largely shoved out of the government since the ‘handshake’ — said no one knows what kind of government is currently running the country.   

“People do not know whether we have the opposition in government or the government in the opposition … maybe policymakers in this great institution in Carnegie could research on what is going on in Kenya because, for all intents and purposes, the opposition is running the government and the government is running the opposition, which is quite a situation,” he said.

Ruto has used his visit to the US to openly express his mind of the situation in the country ahead of the August 9 elections and also question decisions made by his boss since he shook hands with Raila.

During the Sagana III meeting with Mt Kenya leaders and opinion shapers in Nyeri last week, the President revealed that he had informed his deputy of every step he was making before the ‘handshake’ calling him out for lying he had been sidestepped.

He also praised the move to work with Raila, adding it had lowered the political temperatures and allowed the country to rise up and thrive after chaos linked to the disputed 2017 elections. 

The President also openly supported Raila’s presidential bid, claiming his deputy, whom he had earlier promised to back for 10 years once his finished ended, was not fit for office. He accused him of obsessively pursuing power.

However, during the conversation, Ruto — who was kicked out of the ruling Jubilee party last Saturday for defiance — did not shy away from disapproving the direction the government took once the President closed ranks with the opposition leader, saying everything they had planned had been thrown out and replaced with the opposition’s agenda. 

“The Handshake took away the oversight role of the Opposition. In Kenya today, we do not have an opposition.

There is a mongrel of an organisation that nobody knows what the hell it is,” said Ruto, who is leading a new outfit, the United Democratic Alliance that has entered into a coalition named Kenya Kwanza Alliance with Amani National Congress and Ford Kenya parties led by Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula, respectively.

Musalia is accompanying the DP and has been joined by dozens of senior leaders affiliated to the alliance. 

The DP is making an extensive visit abroad since he fell out with his boss and has used the opportunity to take on his opponents, including the President, without fear. After the US, he will head to the United Kingdom and later Qatar.

Ruto did not spare the Building Bridges Initiative — Uhuru’s and Raila’s pet project, saying it was aimed at spreading the camaraderie beyond their Handshake to the country, and whose report and a Bill have been dismissed by the High Court and the Court of Appeal for being unconstitutional. 

The appeal is currently before the Supreme Court.

Ruto said the BBI was not only an attempt at imposing an imperial presidency on Kenyans but also meant to sabotage Jubilee priorities. “With the coming together of the opposition leader and the President, the priorities changed; there was no longer the Big 4 Agenda, while focus on creating jobs for young people went down the drain. Also, the focus on universal health coverage went down the drain, the focus on manufacturing did not happen, the focus on agriculture went up in smoke, we got new priorities on how to change the Constitution, and we got involved in another conundrum called BBI,” he said.

Raila has promised to ensure BBI’s revival if he is elected in August, branding it a long-lasting solution to perennial chaos linked to electoral disputes. The DP told the international community, however, the initiative had broken many bridges instead of building them. “It never built no bridge, it broke so many bridges and we ended up in a mess because, for four years of our term, we were involved in this exercise trying to change the Constitution unconstitutionally, trying to reverse all the gains we had made in our progressive Constitution. Thank God the Judiciary stopped that whole charade and it ended up at a place called null and void,” he added.  

 The DP also vouched for the bottom-up economic model that has become the icon of his campaign, saying it will enhance political and economic inclusivity. 

US Congresswoman Karen Bass, a co-panelist during the event, said her country was keenly watching the affairs in Kenya ahead of the polls. She, however, lavished praises on the country for continuing to nurture democratic ideals and principles.

“I am committed to strengthening our relationship with African governments and there is no better time than now to increase our cooperation as partners in democracy and economic development,” said Bass, who represents California’s 37th congressional district and is also a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee.

She was also an observer in the 2017 elections that ended up being nullified by the Supreme Court. Ruto was hosted by Prof Ken Opalo, who is an assistant professor at Georgetown University. 

The DP later met US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Molly Phee at the State Department in Washington DC. 

During the meeting Phee assured the DP of their keenness in safeguarding democracy and willingness to advocate a free and fair election in August 2022.

In a statement, the Director of Communications WSR Campaign Secretariat Hussein Mohammed said the DP also urged the US and other friends to sustain their support to Kenya’s democratisation and ensure free, fair, and credible elections.