Drop impeachment plans against me lest Kenyans deal with you: Ruto

Deputy President William Ruto says the MPs and senators plotting his impeachment are chasing a mirage.

Speaking at Chepterwai in Mosop Constituency, Nandi County, on Friday, March 13, the deputy president said the impeachment plans against him sponsored by “leaders lounging in hotels in Nairobi while taking tea and mandazis” won’t go anywhere.

Ruto advised the leaders to channel “the impeachment-planning energy” towards service delivery for their constituents.

“Those who are planning to impeach me, let me advise you at no fee: stop engaging in unnecessary plots that won’t be successful,” he said while issuing title deeds to Mosop constituents Friday morning.

“Go back to where you were elected, and work for your constituents. If you don’t do that, and choose to continue planning my impeachment in Nairobi, you will be shocked to discover that the people who voted you in in 2017, are also planning how to remove you from office because you are hardly there for them. The voters, being wise, would read into your laziness and lack of insight,” added the deputy president.

Ruto termed the said-impeachment plan against him as “unnecessary” and one that “deprives Kenyans of service delivery by leaders they elected”.

“When we sought votes from Kenyans, we promised to improve their welfare through development. I am beseeching leaders in Kenya today to stop being cunning. If you made promises to your electorate in the run-up to the August 8, 2017 general election, then try as much as you can to fulfill those pledges.

“The Jubilee administration’s key agendas are known. They include: connecting Kenyans to the power grid, building roads, establishing technical training colleges, connecting houses with piped water, and generally educating the children. That is what President Kenyatta and I have constantly championed.

“These other insincere schemes [including plotting impeachment against me] by leaders, should be shunned. I never heard any leader promising his or her voters that his or her key work will be to cause a rift between President Kenyatta and I,” said Ruto.

The Jubilee Party deputy leader, known for his countless tours across Kenya every week, also denied allegations that he is using the trips to campaign for his 2022 presidential bid.

“I am fully dispensing my duties as President Kenyatta’s principal assistant. You know there are people who think when I am touring different parts of the country, I am out to engage in politics. No, that is not the case. I visit schools, I launch hospitals, I issue out title deeds, and many other development projects. There will come a day when I will remove my coat, long-sleeved shirts and wear a branded cap and T-shirts to engage fully in politics ahead of 2022 general election. I hear so many people saying that I have already activated politics mode. Let me tell them: I haven’t begun political talk yet! Relax, I am still working as the deputy president.”

Ruto told leaders opposed to his presidential bid that they won’t have any say, whatsoever, on who will succeed President Kenyatta after his term ends in August 2022.

“Kenyans will be the deciders of how I have performed as a DP. Those people lounging in hotels in Nairobi don’t have a say about my scorecard. I am urging them to continue taking tea and eating mandazis at the hotels that they frequently visit,” said the deputy president.

ODM leaders recently hinted at sponsoring an impeachment motion against Ruto over investigations into a fake Ksh39 billion firearms deal and Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei’s murder.

Led by Siaya Senator James Orengo, they said they will consider Constitutional means to kick the DP out of national leadership.

It, however, remains to be seen whether this threat will be carried out.

Ruto has — of late — been at loggerheads with a section of Opposition MPs and Jubilee leaders allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta over the DP’s perceived defiance of the president’s order seeking to stop early political campaigns ahead of 2022.

Led by nominated MP Maina Kamanda, the pro-Uhuru leaders claim Ruto has been undermining the Head of State, and that the DP’s name has often been linked to multi-billion shilling scandals in the country, hence ruling Ruto unfit for presidency.