President-Elect William Ruto Pledges to Run a Democratic Government

President-elect William Ruto has pledged to work with all elected leaders in his government as well as the opposition in order to unite Kenyans.

In his speech shortly after being declared the winner of the August 9th presidential race, Ruto said he will form an open and all-inclusive government even as he assured his political enemies that he will not seek revenge.

“I want to promise the people of Kenya that I will run a democratic government and I will work with the opposition to the extent that they oversight the government,” Ruto said.

“I'm acutely aware that our country is at the stage where we need all hands on deck. We do not have the luxury to look back, we do not have the luxury to point fingers, we have to work together for a prosperous Kenya.”

Ruto, who has declared the winner after garnering 7,176,141 votes (50.49 percent), attributed his victory to God and the prayers offered on his behalf.

“I know that there were predictions that I wouldn’t get to the ballot, there were predictions that we wouldn’t get here, but because there’s a God in heaven we’re here. And I want to say and confess that without God, we wouldn’t have been here,” said Ruto.

“This election was much about the issues than the ethnic configurations that have always informed our elections. I want to thank my worthy competitor, Raila Odinga, for a campaign that we all dwelled on issues and tried to sell an agenda to the people of Kenya.”

He also lauded the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and its Chairperson Wafula Chebukati, describing them as the heroes of the just-concluded electoral process.

“The people of Kenya have won because we have raised the political bar. The people of Kenya are the biggest winners. The hero of this election is the IEBC, led by Wafula Chebukati. I say this with conviction, that the IEBC amazed all of us,” he added.