President Uhuru Kenyatta, for the first time, revealed details of how his deputy William Ruto reportedly hatched a plot to impeach him shortly after the 2017 General Election.
Uhuru made the revelations during a meeting with elders from Mt Kenya region at State House, Nairobi, on Saturday.
According to Uhuru, Ruto had hatched a ploy to remove him from office prematurely through sabotaging his administration and an impeachment plan that would have seen him ascend to power through unorthodox means.
He cited Ruto’s alleged treachery as his reason to reach out to his then political nemesis and opposition leader Raila Odinga resulting in the infamous March 2018 handshake.
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The head of state averred that his move to reach out to Raila for the handshake was meant to stabilise the government that was being sabotaged by Ruto with the aim of bringing his rule to an abrupt end.
Uhuru also revealed that the DP had taken a hadrline stance and strongly opposed his handshake with Raila insisting that they were in office legally after the Supreme Court nulified his re-election resulting in a runn-off that Raila's NASA side boycotted.
The president’s revelation served to lift the veil on reason for endorsing Raila to become his successor as opposed to Ruto, whom he termed as impatient, power-hungry and obsessed with succession politics at the expense of executing his official duties as the DP.
During the State House meeting, Uhuru appealed to all parties under the Azimio La Umoja movement in Central Kenya to field the best and united candidates to avoid splitting votes, which will give UDA candidates an upper hand against them.
Uhuru urged the more than 3,000 elders and political leaders to marshal their supporters to vote for Raila as the 5th president.
He also advised them to produce most governors, senators, Members of Parliament and Members of the County Assembly to secure the region's and the community’s interest in the incoming Raila administration, if everything goes according to his plan.
