Deputy President William Ruto joins students from St Andrew’s Kaggwa
Nyansiongo Secondary School in a dance during a fundraiser in Nyamira
County on May 31, 2015. He asked leaders to preach unity. PHOTO | DPPS
Deputy President William Ruto on Sunday told off the Opposition,
saying no amount of “noise” would deter the governing Jubilee Coalition
from implementing its development agenda.
In an
apparent broadside at Cord leader Raila Odinga, he said the Jubilee
administration was interested in working for the public, not
story-telling.
“We must look for ways of uniting all
Kenyans,” said Mr Ruto at Nyansiongo Catholic Parish of Borabu
constituency, Nyamira County during a special offering in aid of the
church.
“Myself and the President are ready to work
with all Kenyans and all elected leaders in the country irrespective of
their political affiliations. The Opposition should follow suit instead
of making a lot of noise.”
He spoke a day after an
opinion poll by Ipsos-Kenya said that Kenyans would like both President
Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Ruto to address the fear of possible ethnic
violence, eight years after a similar spate led to the deaths of 1,133
people.
The latest opinion poll showed that more than
half of Kenyans are either certain or think there is a possibility of
violence if Mr Ruto is convicted in the ongoing case against him at the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mr Ruto is facing
charges of being “criminally responsible as a co-perpetrator” to the
crimes against humanity for murder, deportation and persecution of
civilians.
Radio presenter Joshua arap Sang, the other
remaining suspect, is facing similar charges in connection with the
2007/2008 post-election violence.
After interviewing
1,964 adults between March 28 and April 7, the pollsters said they found
that Kenyans are equally divided on whether they feel the cases facing
Mr Ruto and Mr Sang will lead to a conviction.
But when
asked: “How likely do you think it is that there will be any violence
if Ruto is convicted?” nearly a third (27 per cent) of respondents said
they were “certain” while a similar fraction said it is “possible” there
will be violence.
DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE
On
Sunday, Ipsos clarified that it did not ask Kenyans where the violence
will be or who the perpetrators or their targets could be.
However,
the findings indicate just a third of Kenyans are certain there will be
no violence if the ICC cases end in a conviction.
“There
have been some changes at the ICC with the prosecutor saying the
evidence at hand is weak. This shows we could probably get a lower
figure of those worried about violence if we went back to ask them,”
Ipsos Research Analyst Tom Wolf said on Sunday.
In an
interview last year, former ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo admitted
there had been diplomatic pressure to have Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto
thrown out of the race for State House. However, he argued, the two had
been “smart” to preach unity between Rift Valley and central Kenya
communities.
“They made an alliance and they presented
themselves as the reconciliation process,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo told Radio
Netherlands Worldwide in a January 21, 2014 interview.
On
Sunday, Mr Ruto said a good leader is one who can unite all Kenyan
communities and who is ready to work with even those who do not support
him or her politically.
“Hii serikali ni ya kufanyia wananchi kazi, (This is a government that works for all Kenyans),” he said.
“Still
some people are making noise that this and that has not been done by
Jubilee government. Such people are fond of divisive politics and they
keep reminding others that so and so is from this or that tribe,” said
Mr Ruto.
Such politics has been overtaken by events and those spearheading it have no space in the present Kenyan politics, he said.
Additional reporting by Aggrey Mutambo
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