Deputy President William Ruto has once again hit back at the country’s leading newspaper, Daily Nation, over what he termed as fake reporting on the Building Bridges Initiative report.
Through his twitter account, the DP, who seemed infuriated by the newspaper’s Monday headline; Blow For Ruto as Speaker Rules Out Parliament argued that the headline was contradicting his official stand on the BBI report.
In its report, the newspaper had reported that the Speaker to the National Assembly, Justin Muturi, had dealt Deputy President William Ruto a major blow by ruling out any possibilities of Parliament being used to pass the BBI report.
The paper had based its report on Muturi’s Sunday remarks at a church fundraiser in Uriri constituency, Migori, where the speaker reiterated that the report belongs to the people and that it was only the citizens who will have a final say on its implementation.
According to the newspaper, the speaker had sealed Ruto’s fate by supporting a referendum against the parliamentary amendment, which most of the leaders allied to Ruto are supporting.
FAKE NEWS! What a contradicting headline. pic.twitter.com/Hxipot77Fn
— William Samoei Ruto, PhD (@WilliamsRuto) December 2, 2019
But in his defence, Ruto claimed he had never taken sides concerning the report adding that he has always welcomed both parliament and referendum options.
And to validate his argument, Ruto posted a video of himself giving his stand on the report, while tagging along the newspaper’s lead story.
Speaking at a thanksgiving ceremony for nominated MP David Ole Sankok at Enkare-Ngiro Primary School, Narok North, Narok County on Saturday, Ruto, contrary to the headline, had insisted that the country will go for a referendum if the BBI report demands so.
“We have always insisted that if there is any part of the report that requires a referendum, we are ever ready as Kenyans to conduct one…we have no problem with that. What we are only against is a competition that will leave Kenya a divided nation,” stated Ruto.
Since the release of the BBI report, the differences between politicians allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga on one hand, and those supporting DP Ruto over the report have played out in the open.
Leaders allied to Ruto are supporting a parliamentary amendment saying a referendum will be so expensive for the country, while their counterparts allied to the two BBI masters are supporting the adoption of the report through a referendum, arguing that Kenyans should have a final say in the report.