Ruto Tells CNN Why Uhuru Is Yet To Congratulate Him

President-elect William Ruto has revealed that up to now, outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta has not reached out to him to congratulate him on his election as the country’s fifth president.

Ruto responded to CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday, September 7, who put him on the spot regarding whether or not Uhuru reached out to him after his victory in the August 9 general elections.

He opined that he was probably displeased that the candidate the outgoing Head of State supported was beaten by his former junior in the polls.

A collage of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto. /VIRALTEAKE

"Unfortunately, President Kenyatta has not seen it fit to congratulate me. Maybe he's a bit disillusioned or maybe he's unhappy that I defeated his candidate, but that is the nature of politics," he said.

Ruto appreciated Uhuru's decision to support Raila in the elections as it was the adult thing for him to do; that Ruto did not give him conditions to support his presidential bid.

"When I decided to support President Kenyatta for 10 years, I did not give him conditions to support me. He's an adult and he can make decisions like all adults on who to choose," he added.

"I appreciated it when he decided to support somebody else. I did not take offence, although I had supported him in the past."

The outgoing Deputy President revealed that he had a telephone call with Uhuru, about the agenda surrounding the elections as well as the transition ahead of Ruto's swearing-in on Tuesday, September 13.

"I had a telephone conversation with my boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta.

"We discussed the just concluded General Election and the transition as envisaged by our democratic tradition and practice," he wrote.

Ruto had on Monday, September 5 fired a cheeky salvo at Uhuru after the Supreme Court verdict, confessing that he had not spoken to his boss for months as he still awaits his congratulatory message. He affirmed that he emerged victorious, even if Uhuru had expressed his unwavering support for Raila.

"I know he worked hard in his own way but the people of Kenya made their decision. Remember, I did not give him any conditions to support me, we remain friends as we have been in the context of where we are.

"I have not talked to him in months but shortly I will be making a call to him so that we can have a conversation on the process of transition," he said, adding that he would grant him the same level of respect given to outgoing heads of states.

Uhuru avoided mentioning his successor in the open while congratulating all elected leaders and questioning the Supreme Court judgement.

"We must ask ourselves, is it about numbers or is it about the process? Which of these two is it? Can our institutions rule one way in one election and another way in another election without scrutiny?" he posed.

A collage of President Uhuru Kenyatta and president-elect William Ruto on phone calls. /VIRALTEAKE

CNN Boxes In Ruto Over LGBTQ And Deporting Chinese

Ruto was then challenged to explain his remarks that there was "no room" for homosexuality in Kenyan society, to which he stated that it was a non-issue.

"I am very clear that we respect everybody and what they believe in, but we also have what we believe in and we expect to be respected for what we believe in," Ruto explained.

"We do not want to create a mountain out of a molehill," he said, adding that he prefers to focus his efforts on unemployment and hunger. "When it becomes a big issue for the people of Kenya, the people of Kenya will make a choice."

On matters of threatening to deport Chinese nationals operating in Kenya, Ruto clarified that his government will crack the whip on foreigners operating illegally.

"Everybody will do business, everybody will do whatever they want to do so long as they are doing it within the law," he said.

"Anybody that operates outside the law, it doesn't matter where they come from, they will be sent back from where they came from."