Deputy President William Samoei Ruto’s planned trip to Canada and US scuttled by top statehouse operatives”
Sources close to DP Ruto has confirmed the trip that was set for this Thursday 24th-May 2019 has been put on hold by Statehouse in what they say was scheduling of the president’s diary. It is obvious they are just armtwisting and frustrating DP Ruto’s move to network internationally- a close ally of the DP told this writer.
The Star reported that the DP had been scheduled to fly out to the US on Monday for an extensive tour that would have culminated in a speech at the Open Governance Partnership Conference in Canada scheduled for May 28 and 29.
Ruto’s communications secretary David Mugonyi explained that the DP’s schedule conflicted with President Uhuru Kenyatta‘s and both could be out of the country at the same time.
“His Excellency the President is scheduled to travel to South Africa for the presidential inauguration of Cyril Ramaphosa this Friday. Afterward, the pdd52resident is expected in Vancouver, Canada, for a Women Deliver Conference scheduled for June 3-6,” Mugonyi told reporters.
In March 2019, DP Ruto’s trip to London was suddenly cut short when Statehouse ordered him back to the country in what was seen as frustrating his inroads into diplomatic circles. It is a known fact that USA and the West have a big say in who rules Kenya and therefore by blocking Ruto from making valuable networks in USA, Canada and Great Britain is a direct barrier to his 2022 ambitions
It is a requirement that both the President and Deputy President cannot be out of the country at the same time although it has happened before and not so long ago.
On February 26, 2014, Uhuru left for South Sudan for a peacekeeping mission and Ruto traveled to DR Congo to represent his boss at a COMESA Summit.
Again in 2016, President Uhuru flew out to Zambia for a function dubbed “The Path to Universal Access to Energy in Africa by 2025”, while Ruto travelled to Turkey for a World Humanitarian Summit.
The move to cancel the trip signals more deep-seated trouble in the Jubilee regime, sources said a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was sent on compulsory leave for facilitating the DP’s trip.
An official in the Directorate of America in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was reportedly sent packing by Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma for facilitating Ruto’s trip
Details are scant.
However, before such a high-profile trip, the DP must be given a position paper, country briefs by the ministry and facilitation of visas.
On Tuesday Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau denied that the diplomat was sent on compulsory leave
The Duo made headlines in 2016 when President Kenyatta appointed Ruto as acting president before traveling to The Hague to honour a summon by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The president, however, made it clear he was attending the ICC status conference in his personal capacity since he was charged before he became president and his status as Head of State was not on trial.
More to follow…
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