A fresh war of words has erupted between the Jubilee Party and President William Ruto, after the Head of State took a swipe at former President Uhuru Kenyatta during a church service in Taita Taveta.
Speaking on Sunday, Ruto criticised Kenyatta over his recent claim that the late Raila Odinga won the 2022 election, suggesting the former president was not in a clear state of mind when he made the remarks.
“You cannot be a leader yet you go to a gathering while drunk. You also tell other leaders not to use drugs yet you are confused,” Ruto said.
“Let us be responsible because when you go to speak about things when drunk, you bring confusion. Elections happened four years ago, but because of being confused you come say things that are not clear.”
Jubilee responds
In a statement on Monday, Jubilee questioned the President’s conduct, arguing that a sitting Head of State had no business making incendiary remarks from a place of worship.
The party said leaders who claim the moral high ground should themselves be tested on competence and presidential decorum.
“The spectacle of a sitting President using sacred altars to preach restraint while leading a government defined by institutional excess is as staggering as it is undeniable,” the party said.
It added: “The very individuals attempting to claim the moral high ground from the sanctuary are themselves profoundly blinded, not by substance, but by absolute power, unbridled incompetence, and their own unending falsehoods.”
Jubilee urged Ruto to turn his attention to what it called the vices plaguing his administration, including the looting of public funds and incompetence, and to stop what it termed “petty political score-settling” that exposes him to public ridicule.
The party also painted a bleak picture of the government’s record.
“To stand before a congregation and lecture the nation on decorum, while presiding over a regime that has subjected millions to crippling economic hardship, punitive taxation, and broken promises, reveals a profound detachment from reality,” it said.
It went further, declaring that the Kenya Kwanza administration “represents the lowest denominator of leadership” and has “zero moral authority to lecture anyone on accountability, dignity, or governance.”
The exchange traces back to a Jubilee National Executive Committee meeting on September 22, where Kenyatta said he believed the 2022 election was rigged in Ruto’s favour.
“Tulifanya kila kitu kumsaidia Baba awe Rais wa Jamhuri yetu ya Kenya. Na kura akapata, na mimi mpaka wa leo najua ya kwamba yeye ndiye alishinda hiyo kura. Tunajua vile mambo ilienda, na hatutaki iende hivyo tena,” he said. (We did everything to help him become President of the Republic of Kenya. He did win the vote, and to this day I know he was the one who won that election. We know how things went, and we don’t want it to happen that way again.)
According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Ruto won the 2022 presidential race with 7,176,141 votes (50.49 per cent), narrowly ahead of Odinga’s 6,942,930 votes (48.85 per cent). Odinga, then the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition flag bearer, challenged the outcome in court.
