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President William Ruto has for the first time revealed details of a closed-door meeting he had with Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka shortly after defeating Raila Odinga in the presidential elections last year.
Ruto revealed on on Sunday, April 16 that he approached Kalonzo with a deal to see the former Vice President join government.
He revealed that Kenya Kwanza was considering the Wiper party leader for the position of the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Other positions were also on offer during the closed door meeting that could have seen Kalonzo bolt out of Azimio with other leaders.
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Telling the congregation that attended an interdenominational prayer service at the Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos, Ruto who insisted that he is not a liar stated that he looked for Kalonzo to fulfill a promise he made to Machakos voters while campaigning.
“I promised that if I won, I would look for Kalonzo because he had been troubled by the others. I don't want to be a liar, I want to say the truth, when I won the elections, I looked for Kalonzo and sat down with him.
“I told him to come and join my administration. There was a vacancy in the Speaker’s position and others because I did not want you to blame me later,” the president stated.
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READ: Raila spells out his terms for engaging Ruto and his team
According to Ruto, Kalonzo declined the offers, leaving him with no choice but to give the positions to others out of respect for the Wiper Party leader’s decision.
“I have discharged my responsibility because I spoke to him and he told me that he wanted to continue with the other team, what was I supposed to do?” The president added.
The head of state noted that despite Kalonzo declining the offer, he will still look for more leaders from the region to include in his administration.
“Even if he refused to work with me, I vowed to look for other leaders from ‘Ukambani’ to work with me to ensure that the people here were included in my government.
“I will even include more members from ‘Ukambani’ to my government because I cannot allow others to destroy this community with demonstrations that will not be of help to anyone,” Ruto stated.
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Shortly after winning the contest, Ruto led a charm offensive that saw several Azimio leaders switch sides, leaving former Prime Minister Raila Odinga weakened.