Kenya Minister dares Deputy President to resign

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang'i on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on Deputy President, William Ruto, telling him to quit government instead of attacking it from within.

Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang'i (L) stressing a point to Deputy President, William Ruto  

Ruto is vying for Presidency in a fiercely contested campaigns with Kenya’s former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga who is supported by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Matiang'i, without mentioning Ruto by name, suggested the DP and his supporters were “pretentious and dishonest.”

“You sit with the very people in the National Security Council, you eat government-funded food, drive cars fuelled by that government and live in a house owned by that very government. But you don't have the courage to leave," he said.

Meanwhile, Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang'ula defended Ruto, saying that any attempts to steal the election will be resisted.

"We know who the 'deep state' is. The DP is not a madman and it is his constitutional right to remain in office until his term ends when the next president and DP take over," Wetang'ula said. 

Ruto has previously claimed there is a plot to rig the August 9 presidential election.

The DP said he has information of secret plans to steal his victory, but warned he had put in place watertight mechanisms to ensure it doesn’t happen.

On Tuesday, Matiang’i dismissed the claims as unfounded.

The Interior CS led Attorney General Paul Kihara, ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru and other government officials in answering questions from the clergy during the ACK's bishops and senior pastors conference. 

He said the idea of 'deep state' was created in socialist and communist countries, where there are two levels of government: one that is formal and known by everybody and the other that has bad intentions. 

"I ask the question, in a country where there is not one political detainee, where a presidential election has been nullified and a repeat held, how do you claim there are shadowy people?" Matiang'i asked.

The Interior CS also took issue with Ruto's threat to challenge the national budget, accusing him of populism.

He said that having served in the Cabinet, he knows how the country's budget gets drawn up, and that his promises cannot be achieved. 

Matiang'i has also defended President Uhuru Kenyatta’s involvement in succession politics, saying it is his democratic right.

He said the President has not forced anybody to take any political direction, saying public servants were free to ignore his personal opinion about his preferred successor. 

The Interior CS said there is no presidential decree directing state officials on how to approach elections. 

Matiang'i also challenged the church to scrutinise political aspirants' records while in office.