Deputy President William Ruto’s supporters have gone into celebrations after the second in command finally managed to halt the 1 million signature drive which was scheduled for launch on Thursday November 19.
It was after the Deputy President met with his boss Uhuru Kenyatta at Statehouse yesterday Wednesday Nov 18, that the programme to kick-start BBI signature launch was suddenly stopped through a circular.
The Signature drive was scheduled to take place at the Bomas of Kenya Grounds where tents and seats had already been arranged ready for the D-day only for the meeting to hit dead end reportedly due to Ruto.
Ruto’s Communication Director Emmanuel Talam told off media over sensationalizing the Ruto/Uhuru meeting saying this cannot be turned into ‘breaking news’ since the two are the top government leaders for the country.
“How does it become news when Ruto and his boss meet? They serve in the same government.” Tallam observed.
On his part, vocal DP William Ruto’s ally Senator Kipchumba Murkomen quickly took to his social media page to thank the president for ceding ground and opening room for further document discussion.
Sources have whispered to us that their 3-hour long Statehouse meeting which took place just hours to the launch of the 1 million signature collection, discussed among other things, peace of the nation and Covid-19 pandemic.
Ruto reportedly arrived at the Statehouse at 2PM, held a long discussion with Uhuru before un expected statement came out at around 5.30 PM stopping the event that had been hyped by Orange Democratic Movement ODM politicians
Though still scanty, further details indicated that Mr. Ruto centered his discussion on US vs THEM kind of competition asking Uhuru not to allow the country to go that way.
He also persuaded Mr. Kenyatta not to allow the BBI process to be hijacked by only one community for this may create unnecessary friction to other players from other communities across the country.
It is now possible that Uhuru and Ruto may create an environment for each other so as to come up with a compromised document.
It is also possible that with the increased death caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, sharp Ruto might have taken advantage of it to persuade Mr. Kenyatta that the BBI drive was not the right priority for the country and could hit a dead end if forced down throats of citizens.
“I love this country enough never to be part of any war. Not when there is a real possibility for a win-win consensus beckoning. An ‘us vs them, yes/no’ contest that will lead to a lose-lose outcome is unnecessary & unwarranted. A non-contested referendum is possible,” Ruto had emphasized earlier in the day.
Until now, no much has been disclosed to the public about their meeting which, according to well-placed sources, took place after everyone else was asked to leave the room.
