Kenyatta family's K24 says Deputy President William Ruto has no chance of becoming President

Kenyatta family's K24 says Ruto has no chance of becoming President

Tony Mukere

April 20, 2020 10:36 AM

Rare opinion

File image of DP Ruto

President Uhuru Kenyatta's family-owned media station, K24, on Sunday night stated that Deputy President William Ruto had no chance of becoming President in 2022.

In a rare op-ed announced by one of the station's top news anchors, Anne Kiguta, the station said it had made the prediction after observing the infighting for the control of Jubilee Party over the past week.

Kiguta said there was no doubt that President Kenyatta had a fall out with his deputy who she accused of faking togetherness where there was none.

"While reporting these events that have followed, we have often debated why the DP has stayed where he is clearly not wanted, why face the humiliation? why create the illusion that all is well while clearly, it's not? why create the image of togetherness where there is none? How does it benefit the DP?"

"For many of DP's allies is that they have mistakenly thought that they could force the President into the past days working together...we observe only way out for the DP and that its - stop fighting reality. Living in the real world as horrible as it is frees you to make decisions that can work in the present," K24's editorial continued as read out by Ms Kiguta.

The Mediamax outlet said there was no path for DP Ruto to ascend to the Presidency as long as he continued fighting President Kenyatta.

"There is no path to leadership, at least one that we can see, that includes fighting your boss and undermining him. Its not about whether the boss is wrong, its about recognizing that the boss is the boss. This is just our observation and we could be wrong wrong but we will continue to watch and report," Kiguta concluded.

The opinion was rather unusual from a Kenyan media station where most news outlets avoid giving op-eds on hot political topics due to the polarizing nature of the Kenyan audience.

The trend, however, is common in the US where most media organization take an editorial position on polarizing public matters that include endorsing and chastising political leaders.

Tony Mukere