tom Maruko | NATION Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta addresses a rally in Kiambu County on April 01, 2011.
By JOHN NGIRACHU jngirachu@ke.nationmedia.com and ERIC WAINAINA rc.wainaina@gmail.com
Posted Friday, April 1 2011 at 22:00
Posted Friday, April 1 2011 at 22:00
In Summary
- Leaders hold joint rallies before trip to The Hague, with MPs saying the two are likely to form political alliance for 2012 poll
Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto on Friday began their last leg of prayer tours before they fly to The Hague next week to obey summons by the International Criminal Court.
The two were accompanied on a tour of Kiambu County by about 25 MPs. The tour culminated in a well-attended prayer meeting-cum-rally at Githunguri Stadium.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto used the rally to ask the people to pray for them ahead of The Hague trip.
Gender minister Naomi Shaaban and Marakwet East MP Lina Kilimo asked Kenyans to fast and pray for the Ocampo Six as they travel to the ICC.
“There is nothing we did apart from vote and wait for the results. But when they were out, our brothers living in the Rift Valley came and told us that they had been removed from their homes,” said Mr Kenyatta.
“Even if we go to The Hague, we know that God knows we are innocent,” he added.
He spoke at length about how he conceded defeat after his bid for the presidency in 2002 when Mr Kibaki secured his first term as Head of State.
“Never again will Kenyans fight because of politics. Leadership in this country cannot be about fighting,” said Mr Ruto.
Mr Kenyatta echoed these sentiments and repeated his claim that all he helped do during the violence in early 2008 was to offer help for Kikuyus displaced from their homes in the Rift Valley.
Most MPs who spoke suggested that if the ICC cases against the two do not go through, they could form a political alliance, with Mr Kenyatta running for president and Mr Ruto as his running mate in 2012.
But their speeches were laced with the kind of talk the National Cohesion and Integration Commission could categorise as hate speech.
They were directed at Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose well-documented political battles with Mr Ruto, the ODM deputy party leader, have been complicated by the fresh onslaught by Mr Kenyatta.
PNU chief whip Johnstone Muthama was among the MPs who suggested that the PM should have been included on the list of suspects by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for calling for mass action after the bungled 2007 General Election.
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