Speaking at Chatham House in London on Friday, Ruto also said that the Senate should be made the upper house to avoid conflicting interests between the two legislative houses.
“Elections in Kenya are close-run contest. Often enough, the winner and runner-up achieve more than five million votes. The winner ascends to a formally constituted leadership role while the runner-up becomes a virtual stranger in leadership,” he said
He also said that the same formula should be used in county governments, with runner-ups assuming official opposition roles in county assemblies.
“This formula should apply at the county level. I further propose that with the Leader of Opposition taking leadership of the opposition in Parliament, the Deputy President should then take over the Leadership of Government Business in Parliament. This should be replicated with the Deputy Governor at the counties,” he added.
He attributed post-election violence to individuals who do not accept defeat, but instead use the IEBC as a scapegoat.
“I believe very strongly that in our politics, IEBC is the least of our problems. We have used IEBC as a convenient ‘excuse’ for those who do not win elections. The problem is the people who refuse the outcome of elections. That is when they run amok. Going forward we should only allow democrats to participate in the elections,” said Ruto.
The DP, who has cut short his trip in London dismissed claims that Jubilee rigged the 2017 general elections.
“We had won more seats in every category. How possible was it that we lost the election,? it does not make sense but as democrats, we went back,” he added.
The DP declined to respond to former Jubilee vice chairman David Murathe’s sentiments, who has declared him (Ruto) ineligible for 2022 Presidential race.
“I have not responded to Murathe in Kenya. I am not about to respond to him in Europe,” he said.
Earlier today, Ruto cancelled his cocktail meeting with Kenyans in London, which was to happen today.
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The event, planned by the Kenya High Commission, was set to be a one and a half-hours session for the Kenyans in diaspora to interact with the deputy president.
However, the meetup was not to happen as the deputy president’s team revealed that the DP was forced to cancel as he was to return to Kenya.
He is expected to be back in the country this evening as his boss, President Kenyatta is set to fly out to Ethiopia on Saturday morning.
Following the cancellation, Kenyans who had bought the tickets to his cocktail event received a mail on Thursday evening informing them of the change of plans.
The notice read: “Good evening, Thank you for registering to attend the Cocktail to be hosted by H.E. Dr. William Samoei Ruto, PhD, EGH, the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya, scheduled for Friday 8th February 2019 from 1830hrs to 2000hrs in London.
However, due to unavoidable circumstances, the event will not take place. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused,” the Kenya High Commission informed those who had registered.
The Head of State is expected to travel to Ethiopia for the 32nd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government.
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