NAIROBI,
Kenya's President-elect, William Ruto has told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that he will work to unify the country following a narrow election win, as well as playing an active role in solving East Africa's security and humanitarian issues.
Speaking on Amanpour's show in an exclusive interview Wednesday, Ruto said he had already reached out to his election rival Raila Odinga, and said he would build alliances that will help to bring the country together.
"The administration that
I'm going to run is going to be an administration that is going to serve all
Kenyans equally, whether they voted for us or they did not," said Ruto,
whose victory was confirmed by a Supreme Court ruling on Monday.
Ruto, 55, won with 50.49% of the vote against Odinga's 48.85% in last month's election, which passed off calmly despite Kenya's recent history of political violence, including the killing of nearly 1,500 people in the aftermath of the December 2007 election.
Asked about the peaceful
proceedings, Ruto said that the situation has been improving since 2007, and
the next election will be even better.
"I think it speaks to the
heart of the maturity of the democracy of our country," he said. "No
citizen, no leader wants their country to be famous for violence."
"We can go to an election,
we can decide who our leaders are and the next day we can go back to
work," he added. "That is the standard we have raised for ourselves
as the people of Kenya, I am very proud of it."
Amanpour later asked whether
outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who supported Odinga's election bid despite
Ruto being his vice-president, had been in touch since the election.
"Unfortunately, President
Kenyatta has not seen it fit to congratulate me," he said. "Maybe
he's a bit disillusioned or maybe he's unhappy that I defeated his candidate,
but that is the nature of politics." He lamented.
On his part, the out-going
president put it clear that he does not believe that Ruto won the election
adding that he must comply with constitution requirement and hand over to him. “I
will hand over power smiling because it’s my Constitutional duty to do so, but
my leader is Baba Raila Odinga.
Among those who have contacted
Ruto are a number of world leaders, and he says he told them not to expect
"a big shift" in Kenya's foreign policy.
"I intend to scale up the
participation of Kenya in many of the areas, especially in our regional peace
initiatives," said Ruto.
"I will be available, I
will play my part, I will scale up Kenya's standing and contribution in that
space so that together we can contribute to a better, a much more peaceful
neighborhood."
Among those challenges is
Somalia, with has longstanding security issues and now a looming famine.
"Somalia is a difficult
nut to crack," said Ruto, who said he has worked with the country's
newly-elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in the past.
"We are looking forward to working with him and with the international community so that we can square out the challenges in Somalia, make it possible for Somalia to take care of its own security concerns," said Ruto.
Humanitarian issues are also
on the agenda, and Ruto told Amanpour that he will work for a peaceful
resolution to the conflict in Ukraine in order to allow more grain shipments
from the country to reach East Africa.
Ruto plans to boost grain
production locally and regionally, he said, while refusing to point the finger
at Moscow over the shortages.
"I do not think blame
game would help in that equation," he said.
Amanpour later quizzed Ruto on
human rights, particularly his previous comments that there was "no
room" for homosexuality in Kenyan society.
"I am very clear that we
respect everybody and what they believe in, but we also have what we believe in
and we expect to be respected for what we believe in," said Ruto, who said
he does not think that LGBTQ rights are an important topic for Kenyans.
"We do not want to create
a mountain out of a molehill," he said, adding that he prefers to focus
his efforts on unemployment and hunger. "When it becomes a big issue for
the people of Kenya, the people of Kenya will make a choice."
Amanpour also pressed Ruto on
his controversial promise to deport Chinese people from Kenya, but the
President-elect argued that he had been taken out of context.
He was referring to Chinese
people who work without a permit, said Ruto.
"Everybody will do
business, everybody will do whatever they want to do so long as they are doing
it within the law," he said.
"Anybody that operates
outside the law, it doesn't matter where they come from, they will be sent back
from where they came from." - CNN
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