Former Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju has shed more light on his earlier claims that Deputy President William Ruto blackmailed President Uhuru Kenyatta in order to support his presidential bids.
Tuju had on Wednesday claimed that Ruto is a man of blackmail who never supported Ruto willingly.
“He was paid. Let the people of Mt Kenya not think Ruto supported Uhuru willingly, this is a person of blackmail. I can confirm before a court of law how,” he said in an interview on Inooro FM.
In another interview on Citizen TV, Tuju disclosed that Ruto used the parliamentary leadership to gain an unfair advantage over Uhuru.
The Azimio la Umoja executive director said the scheme involved Ruto’s cronies in parliament. Tuju mentioned former National Assembly majority leader Aden Duale and Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Kimani Ichung’wah.
According to Tuju, it was Ruto’s schemes that pushed Uhuru to work with Raila Odinga.
“It was better to work with an honest Raila who would be ready to work with him without demanding anything in his government and support him in parliament, instead of a Ruto who at every possible corner, he blackmailed the president. He used the speakers, he used Duale, he used Ichungwah,” Tuju said.
He said the handshake between Uhuru and Raila came as a big relief.
“The moment the handshake took place, many of us in government breathed a sigh of relief because previous to that he was always blackmailing the president. He was controlling parliament through Duale and of course speakers were on his side. I’m I lying? those speakers are now in UDA.”
Tuju further warned that a Ruto presidency would be disastrous to Kenya given the scandals he has been implicated in.
“This is not an election about manifestos. Manifestos you can write anything you want to write. There was something in the manifesto called a laptop, I don’t want to go there. So, it is not about manifestos, it is about the character of the man we are dealing with.”
