Ruto Rules Out Handshake with Raila After Winning the Presidency

President-elect William Ruto has ruled out the possibility of having a political handshake with his main competitor Raila Odinga.

Speaking during a joint media interview after he was declared the winner of the August 9th presidential election, Ruto stated that he intends to work with Odinga in his official capacity as the opposition leader in order to keep his government in check.

“My competitors have a role to play. I will work with my competitors in the role that the Constitution assigns the people in the opposition. They will provide oversight over my government and I intend to work with them in that capacity,” said Ruto.

Ruto pointed out that he does not believe in compromising democracy through negotiations that result in a government that is not accountable, citing the last four years of President Kenyatta’s government. He said the handshake between Kenyatta and Odinga resulted in a mongrel of a government. 

“I never believed in the handshake stories. I believe in democracy. I believe in a government that has checks and balances. When you have a government that does not have the opposition, you have the very high risk of having a government that is not accountable, precisely what we have seen over the last four years,” said Ruto.

He added: “That is why the people of Kenya voted for me and my team. They want a government that has checks and balances. They want a government that is accountable. They do not want a mongrel of a government where nobody knows who is the executive, who is the opposition and who is doing what. I think the people of Kenya want clarity because we are democrats.”

Ruto won the presidency with 7,176,141 votes, representing 50.49 percent of the total votes cast while Odinga garnered 6,942,930 votes (48 percent), a difference of 233,211 votes.