Stop mocking Gideon, Salat tells DP Ruto and his allies

Kanu Secretary-General Nick Salat has asked Deputy President William Ruto and his allies to stop mocking Baringo Senator Gideon Moi for harbouring ambitions simply because he is the son of former President Daniel Moi.

Mr Salat said that instead, Mr Ruto, who wants to contest the presidency on a Jubilee ticket in 2022, should sell his ideologies to the people.

“We want Duale and Murkomen to cease antagonising us, because Kanu and Jubilee are not in any fight. In 2022, Jubilee will have their candidate, and we will have ours. The voters will decide. They are mentioning names saying this person is someone’s son, just whose son did they want him to be?” Mr Salat told the Nation on the phone on Wednesday.

On Monday, he made the statement at a function attended by Senator Moi, who is seeking to dethrone Mr Ruto as the Rift Valley political kingpin to boost his chances in the 2022 presidential race.

INSULT GIDEON

“Have I ever insulted anyone? So why is it that you always wake up and insult Gideon? Every time you speak, it is about Gideon, why?” asked Mr Moi during the funeral of Baringo North politician and businessman Yano Sengei.

Mr Moi, who is serving his second term after a five-year-stint as Baringo Central MP, made the remarks a day after Mr Duale declared that “the presidency is not for dynasties, and is not hereditary.”

Speaking a day after Mr Moi visited Garissa County where he was asked to declare his bid for the top job, Mr Duale said Northeastern and pastoralists were behind the Deputy President.

“William Ruto’s father was a peasant and the next election is not about who your father is but what you have done for Kenyans,” Mr Duale said.

On Wednesday, Mr Salat laughed off Mr Duale’s argument.

“They seem to be so focused on us yet we are operating on different lanes. What does one’s birthright got to do with being seconded by a registered political party to contest for the presidency?” asked Mr Salat.

DISRESPECTFUL

Mr Ruto has on several occasions played down Senator Moi’s chances, terming his bid disrespectful to what he said was the community’s absolute support for his father.

“We supported him for 24 years when he was in power. Why is it that when I ask the Kalenjin nation to support me when I am this close to the presidency his son turns his back on me? Why does he despise me this much? And it is not like he is more learned than me,” Mr Ruto famously ranted in Baringo in the run-up to the 2017 elections.

At the heart of Mr Ruto’s argument and those of his allies, Mr Moi should step down in favour of the deputy president whom they argue has the real chance of becoming president in 2022.