DP Ruto attends Uhuru's full cabinet meeting after claiming he was sidelined

Deputy President William Ruto has attended a full cabinet meeting chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi on Thursday.

This is the first full cabinet meeting Ruto is attending since his bitter fallout with his boss over a year ago.

According to a statement issued by the State House, the meeting will discuss matters of national and international importance.

“His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta is today, at State House, Nairobi, chairing a full Cabinet Meeting during which several matters of national and international importance will be discussed,” State House tweeted.

Ruto has conspicuously been absent from the other previous cabinet meetings and Uhuru during the Labour Day celebrations accused him of absconding from his duties.

“Instead of helping me end the situation, you are all over in the market places inciting people to ask me about the situation. And then you call yourself a big leader. I don’t know what big number, in this country. Why didn’t you then resign and leave me to search for a person who could help me?” Uhuru said.

Ruto had earlier defended his absence from the cabinet meeting, claiming that he had not attended the cabinet meetings because his duties were allegedly handed to Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i.

Uhuru and Ruto enjoyed a close working relationship during their first term in office, but that has since faded away.

The Mau Mau veterans from the Central region led by Michael Kariuki Kirungia moved to court in March to seek the removal of the DP from office.

The veterans accused Ruto of violating Article 147 (1) (2) of the Constitution by failing to discharge his roles as the deputy president and Article 148 (5) under the National Oaths and Affirmations Third Schedule.

They also accused the DP of committing a crime under the Oaths and Statutory Declaration Act Cap 15 (II) laws of Kenya.