William Ruto’s Pre-handshake narrative as peddled at an interview on Citizen TV continues to draw mixed reactions among Kenyans and political leaders.
Ruto sensationally claimed that AU High envoy for Infrastructure Raila Odinga approached him four times after the 2017 general elections in a bid to have him get into a working agreement with him.
The DP claims that he turned down Mr. Odinga since he did not believe that he was sincere.
Raila Odinga’s Party leadership responded to Ruto’s sentiments that it described as false and laughable.
Through Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, ODM Claims that it was Ruto who approached Raila Four times and not the other way round.
Sifuna claims that Ruto approached Raila to help him finish a common enemy in the form of President Uhuru Kenyatta, an approach Raila turned down.
“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 from Edwin Sifuna.
“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.”
At the same time, Raila Odinga Jnr, the ODM leader’s son, has also claimed that in January 2018, before the handshake, Ruto tried to entice him and his sister Winnie Odinga — through an Ambassador — with high level government positions.
According to Raila Jnr, the rejected the offer, which they deemed as “a kind of divide and rule tactic.”
Meanwhile, the deputy president’s spokesperson David Mugonyi has rubbished the statement issued by Sifuna terming it as an “incoherent rant that out of compassion, must be forgiven and ignored.”
“We do not consider the post by Edwin Sifuna to be ODM official communication… The incoherent, rabid juvenile rant by Sifuna is so ridiculously uneducated, spectacularly unhinged, desperately delusional that out of compassion, it must be forgiven and ignored. We don’t believe that ODM — even in its current dire straits — has fallen this low,” said Mugonyi.