Just who is fooling who in this whole pre-handshake shenanigans between Deputy President William Ruto and Opposition Chief Raila Odinga?
Well, DP Ruto might have ignited a fire that will not be put off anytime soon with his sensational claims that Opposition Chief Raila Odinga approached him four times for them to join hands only for him to turn him down since he did not believe in his sincerity.
As expected, ODM’s leadership has not taken Ruto’s claims lightly and as such, it has responded to the DP and his camp.
ODM through Secretary General Edwin Sifuna claims that it was Ruto who approached Odinga and not the other way round.
According to Sifuna, Ruto’s latest sentiments are “lies” that would be “laughable if the accusation didn’t raise grave concerns.”
“On a TV show last night, Ruto made a myriad of accusations against The ODM Party, and our Party Leader which cannot be left unchallenged. Among these lies was that the Rt. Hon Raila Odinga approached him four times prior to the famous handshake for purposes he did not disclose. This would be laughable if the accusation didn’t raise such grave concerns,” said Sifuna.
According to the ODM Secretary General, there would be no logic at all in Mr. Odinga making approaches to the Deputy President yet he (Raila) had ran in the 2017 elections against President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Sifuna claimed that after the 2017 elections, Ruto allegedly reached out to Mr. Odinga on at least four occasions, through one of his political henchmen and several occasions through “a female former powerful Cabinet Minister from the Rift Valley.”
On these occasions, Sifuna claims that Ruto was allegedly claiming to be the one in charge of the country and wanted Mr. Odinga to work with him.
“Ruto’s message via Oscar Sudi was that he was the one in charge of the country and he wanted Mr. Odinga to work with him. Rt Hon Odinga asked his staff member to stop further contact with Oscar Sudi on learning what Ruto was up to.
“But Ruto would not relent. He soon sent a female former powerful Cabinet Minister from the Rift Valley to Rt Hon Odinga’s home, with the same proposal to help tame “Uhuru and his people”. The said former Cabinet minister was to attempt this mission on at least four occasions. All these attempts were rejected,” added the ODM Sec-Gen.
Sifuna claimed the sentiments made by the DP on Tuesday were an attempt to sabotage the handshake.
“He attempted to sell the narrative of “finishing our common enemy” to Hon Raila Odinga, who declined the offer. Now he wants to blackmail both Rt Hon Odinga and the President at the same time!” read the statement.
“This is why he is the greatest enemy of the Handshake and desperately wants to see it fail. We once again advise him to raise his objections with his boss and stop his obsession with our Party Leader.”