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Ruto speaks on nearly slapping Uhuru

A leaked audio recording in which Ruto is heard explaining what transpired

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto during a speech from State House on September 1, 2017

Deputy President William Ruto has for the first time opened up on a tense meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta which nearly turned physical.

Ruto indicated that he would have slapped the head of state were it not for the respect he has.

A leaked audio recording in which Ruto is heard explaining the events of the day to a group of Kikuyu elders who visited him at his Karen residence on July 1 lifted the lid on what transpired.

Ruto recounted that after the Supreme court annulled the results of the 29017 presidential elections, a distraught Uhuru nearly gave up the fight for a second term.

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The Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate explained that it was his insistence that saw Uhuru hit the campaign trail again to get win a second term in the repeat polls.

According to Ruto, Uhuru was not keen on fighting for the second term following the Supreme Court’s decision and had even considered retiring to his Ichaweri home.

Ruto narrated that he went to State House to meet the President on September 1, 2017 after the Supreme Court ruling that ordered for repeat elections that were eventually boycotted by National Super Alliance (NASA) candidate, Raila Odinga.

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So, ndiyo huyo… Oh, sasa, hii maneno, sijui nini, mimi sitaki, mimi nataki kuenda Ichaweri, sasa mimi sitaki, wacha tuachane na hii kitu.

"(There he was, saying that he is not keen on taking part in the repeat elections and that he wants to go to Ichaweri, that we should abandon this thing),” Ruto narrated.

The deputy president admitted that at that he nearly slapped Uhuru at that moment but did not do so due the respect they had for one another.

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“Mimi nikamwangalia, nikamwambia ‘wewe’! Ni vile tu nilikua na heshima, ningemchapa kofi. Ati sisi tuache?”

"(I just looked at him and only said ‘you!’ It is only that I respected him, otherwise I would have slapped him. How could we just quit?),” Ruto recalled.

He added that he told the president that there was no way Jubilee party could have lost the polls.

“Ati tutoke hapa?’ Hapana, hapana, hapana. Na ni kura tumeshinda? Kwani alikua ametushinda wapi? Tumeshinda wabunge, tumeshinda ma governor, tumeshinda senators wengi—tumefanya hiyo kazi yote.

"(How could we just quit, no way especially when we had won the election. We had more MPs, more governors and senators. We had done a lot of work),” Ruto explained to the Kikuyu elders.

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