President-elect William Ruto during an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said he will work to unify the country following a narrow election win.
He also added that he plans to play an active role in solving East Africa’s security and humanitarian issues.
While speaking during the exclusive interview with Amanpour on Wednesday, September 7, Dr. Ruto said he had already reached out to his election rival Raila Odinga, saying that he will build alliances that will help bring the country together.
“The administration that I’m going to run is going to be an administration that is going to serve all Kenyans equally, whether they voted for us or they did not,” said Ruto.
President-elect William Ruto won with 50.49% of the vote against Odinga’s 48.85% in the August polls.
When he was asked about the peaceful proceedings, William Ruto said that the situation has been improving since 2007, and the next election will be even better.
“I think it speaks to the heart of the maturity of the democracy of our country,” he said. “No citizen, no leader wants their country to be famous for violence.” Ruto stated.
“We can go to an election; we can decide who our leaders are and the next day we can go back to work. “That is the standard we have raised for ourselves as the people of Kenya, I am very proud of it.” He added
Moreover, Amanpour asked whether the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta, who supported Odinga’s election bid had been in touch since the election.
“Unfortunately, President Kenyatta has not seen it fit to congratulate me,” he said. Maybe he’s a bit disillusioned or maybe he’s unhappy that I defeated his candidate, but that is the nature of politics.” Ruto answered.
Nevertheless, among those who have contacted Ruto are a number of world leaders. The president-elect has however told them not to expect “a big shift” in Kenya’s foreign policy.
“I intend to scale up the participation of Kenya in many of the areas, especially in our regional peace initiatives,” the president-elect told Amanpour.
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“I will be available, I will play my part, I will scale up Kenya’s standing and contribution in that space so that together we can contribute to a better, a much more peaceful neighborhood.” He added.