According to President William Ruto, he chose retired President Uhuru Kenyatta to continue serving as a mediator in the region because he is now Uhuru’s big brother.
He was answering a query posed to him during an interview with Aljazeera on Thursday.
“That’s interesting when he didn’t support you to be President. Why do you think he should stay in that role?” he was asked.
“I’m the President of Kenya, I’m the big brother now and it’s in my place to work with him,” Ruto said.
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On September 13, Ruto made the announcement that Uhuru will continue to serve as the region’s peace efforts’ chair.
According to him, part of the mediation’s purpose is to settle the dispute in Ethiopia and the Great Lakes region, a task at which Ruto praised Uhuru’s performance thus far.
“I have committed that the government of Kenya will support those initiatives that will be chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta. I want to thank you Uhuru Kenyatta for agreeing to support us and to help me in those interventions,” Ruto said during his inauguration.
The President stated that despite Uhuru not endorsing his presidential campaign, he believes it was the right thing to do.
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“I will not allow negative energy to be build around our country. It was a competition and President Kenyatta had a candidate, his candidate did not win, I beat his candidate. That’s a democratic process,” he said.
The electioneering year is gone, said Dr Ruto, and the main task at hand is to lead.
“And we have a region to look after and I believe President Kenyatta can bring value,” Ruto said.
The head of state is expected back into the country on Sunday.
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