DP Ruto wanted to impeach me: Uhuru tells elders

Kenyatta, who was addressing Gìkùyù elders who visited him at State House, Nairobi said Ruto had an insatiable appetite for power and was keen on fomenting dissent from within the Jubilee party, to elbow his boss.

The President also took time to explain to the elders why he reached out to ODM Leader Raila Odinga and shook hands in March 2018. 

Explaining the Handshake, Kenyatta told the elders that he reached out to his arch-rival turned ally, to steady the government, and slow puncture what he termed Ruto's grand plan to sabotage his administration and ascend to power through the backdoor.

Kenyatta accusing Ruto of opposing the handshake and pushing him to play hard ball against the ODM leader, with whom he had faced off in the August 2017 presidential race, whose outcome was overturned by the Supreme Court.

With the Presidential race 135 days away, Kenyatta justified his choice of Odinga as his preferred successor, terming Ruto impatient and a leader who focused more on the 2022 succession politics than execution of his duties as his principal assistant.

The Head of State took the opportunity to call on all parties allied to the Azimio La Umoja outfit in central Kenya to wisely field candidates and ensure they do not split votes, to the advantage of candidates allied to Ruto's UDA party. 

Kenyatta urging the elders and political leaders present to mobilise their supporters to vote for Odinga, but also emerge with a majority of Members of Parliament in the National Assembly and Senate, Governors and MCA’s, to secure the community's and regional interests in the government that will be established after the August polls.