BALTIMORE, USA
Kenya’s Deputy President, William Ruto, yesterday told members of the international community that democracy was on trial in Kenya and that voters may not have a chance to freely make their choices at the ballot in the coming General Election.
The DP used his visit to the
United States, to warn of a strong possibility that Kenyans’ right to exercise
their freedom of choice without threats and intimidation might be at stake in
the August 9 polls.
Speaking at Karson Institute
for Race, Peace and Social Justice at Loyola University in Baltimore, Ruto said
the coming polls were a litmus test to the country’s democracy adding he was
ready to defend all Kenyans’ right to vote without intimidation.
Ruto, who has fallen out with
his boss- President Uhuru Kenyatta, over who should succeed the Head of State
after the polls, appeared to question Uhuru’s decision to back ODM leader Raila
Odinga and the use of the State machinery to accomplish the mission.
He and his allies have termed
Raila’s presidential bid as sponsored by the State, branding him a
government project. They have often asked Kenyans not to yield to intimidation
by the government to vote for Raila.
“The biggest issue on the
ballot is the democracy of our nation and whether we truly have the opportunity
to make free choices devoid of blackmail, threats and intimidation. That is a
matter that is on the ballot. If you understand a bit of Kiswahili that’s what
informs the current push by many Kenyans to say hatupangwingwi, meaning
‘we want to make our choices without being choreographed or chaperoned or blackmailed
or intimidated,” Ruto said.
The DP said there was also a
deliberate attempt by a group of State actors to weaponise the criminal justice
system so it acts in their favour.
He, however, praised the
citizens for rising up against such attempts saying they had won his
support. William Ruto (centre) and his wife Rachel at the Karson Institute for Race, Peace and Social Justice, Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland, US
“The only concern that many
Kenyans have is the intrusion by agencies to try and manipulate decisions of
people at different levels. The good thing is that the people of Kenya have
stood very firm against any attempts to make decisions on their behalf,” he
said.
He added: There is a huge
pushback by citizens against any attempt to choreograph the next dispensation
in Kenya. There is a lot of blackmail, intimidation, use of the criminal
justice system to intimidate, blackmail leaders and to ask people to vote in a
certain way but Kenya being a very progressive and having practiced democracy
for a long while they have stood up to this.
“As a leader in Kenya, I
have taken the position to protect and to speak against any attempts to try and
straitjacket people into predetermined outcomes. I’m confident that the people
of Kenya will prevail and that Kenyans will make independent choices,”
The DP also touched on the
claims of rigging saying he was aware of talk around the possibility of
interfering with the August poll results.
He, however, asked his
competitors to prepare to concede defeat instead of resorting to violence
saying; without referring to anyone, that there were leaders known for always
disputing voting outcomes.
“You remember the events of
2007/08 were premised on a stolen election and we keep hearing this stolen
election narrative. What we are asking is that every candidate must commit that
they will accept the outcome of the election and if they query the outcome, it
should be using constitutionally-stipulated mechanisms and not pushing people
to war,” said the DP.
Ruto, who has served in the
DP’s post for the last nine years, boldly claimed that the country’s economy
had been “captured by cartels and brokers” vowing to free it from them if
elected President.
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