Deputy President William Ruto has hit back at his senior, President Uhuru Kenyatta, who on Friday swore to stop sending representatives to launch projects on his behalf, saying they had failed him.
Uhuru’s statement was subtly directed at Ruto, who had launched the last mile connectivity project in Nyandarua county, only for it to stall.
”I came here to see myself whether the people in this region had been connected to the national grid as alleged by the people I had sent here…why are they not yet connected? I will not be sending people anymore, I will come by myself,” an angry Uhuru said while addressing residents of Nyandarua.
A defiant Ruto, however, on Sunday, maintained that he would continue flagging off development projects around the country since that was part of his job description, as deputy president.
”Hiyo kazi nitafanya na bidii. Hii ya barabara…na ya maji, na ya stima, na ya kusomesha watoto wetu…kwa sababu kazi ya deputy president ni hiyo nafanya (I will work even harder to steer roads, water, electricity, and education programs….what I am doing is the work of the deputy president)” the politician said during a church function in Kisii.
Ruto added that defamatory utterances could no longer fool Kenyans, as they are intelligent enough to observe who has delivered in his/her docket, and who has not.
”Wananchi wako na akili. Watajua ni nani wa kufanya kazi, na ni nani wa kupiga story (Kenyans are an intelligent lot. They can decipher who is a hard worker and who is a busy body),” the DP said.
”Tulikubaliana Kenya wajinga waliisha (We all agreed that there are no longer fools in Kenya),” he added.
He further asked his fellow politicians to stop interfering with his work as the second in command.
”Kuna mtu analalamika hapa DP anafanya kazi yake? Iko mtu analalamika nimefanya kazi yake? (Is there anyone who can claim that I am doing his job?),” the irate deputy head of state sarcastically posited.
He was speaking during the consecration of Reverend Joseph Omwoyo Ombasa, as the Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya.