Former Bomet Governor and Chama Cha Mashinani party Leader Isaac Ruto has spoken after a long while of silence.
Questions of his whereabouts since he lost Bomet governorship to Jubilee’s Dr. Joyce Laboso in the August 8, 2017 polls have been rife.
But, he says, he prefers living a private life for the first year.
“I have plenty to do as a private citizen. I decided to take leave- obviously you will hear about me in the political arena because I am basically a politician. But I would prefer a fairly quiet first year to let those who have been elected to settle,” says the CCM leader.
He spoke during an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday.
On the question of his sudden pullout from NASA as the fifth co-principal, he notes that he did not subscribe to opposition’s way of handling grievances emanating from the August 8 polls.
Ruto states that for him, mismanaging the peace of the country with protests over IEBC’s alleged mismanagement of the general elections would have only made the situation much worse and not better.
“I made clear in my meetings at the NASA summit that I would not subscribe to mass action. I told them the best place for us to go is the court. Finally, we went to court,” he adds.
The Ex-Bomet County boss also warned politicians from both divides against tying the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga to 2022 debacle.
Ruto said that the March 9 handshake between the two leaders has nothing to do with 2022 politics as the narrative suggest.
“I don’t tie the handshake to 2022 because I don’t think the handshake in any way was part of a deal to 2022. In my view, the handshake was a decision of statesmen,” he opines.
In downplaying an alleged rift between Deputy President William Ruto and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi inspired Statehouse bid in 2022, Ruto avers that the handshake was a channel to foster peace in the country and had no election pact in it.
He said there is no quarrel between the two because Moi is leading a separate political party-Kanu while the DP is “Jubilee’s heir apparent”.
On the soaring referendum debate, the CCM party boss says talks about a plebiscite are premature; it should ensue in 2021 and not any other time before then.
“This is not the right time. I wouldn’t agree that we ask Kenyans to go for a referendum in 2019, obviously not in 2018. But I think we would discuss these things in 2021 from sometimes in November.”
However, he notes that it is important to change the country’s governance system from the current Presidential system to a Parliamentary system.