Deputy President William Ruto snubbed an end-week meeting organised between him and President Uhuru Kenyatta at the coastal strip, it has emerged.
Last week, the Dr Ruto also failed to show up in Mombasa where he was supposed to link up with President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga for launching of Sh1 billion Mama Ngina Regeneration, despite his spokesperson David Mugonyi confirming his attendance.
"The Deputy President will travel on Sunday to Mombasa ahead of Monday's launching," Mugonyi told the media. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001309161/inside-uhuru-ruto-cold-war.
But until now, it's not clear where Ruto opted to snub the meeting, only choosing to host a team of religious leaders from North Rift at his Sugoi home. He's also scheduled to host Narok leaders at Sugoi on Saturday even as President Uhuru Kenyatta remains at the coast.
But a source close to State House says the two leaders have not seen each other eye to eye and have been only using proxies for communication on phone.
"There is little or no communication at all between them. They have been using the likes of Talam (Emmanuel) or Waita (Nzioka) to pass essential information for weeks now. It's not such a good thing you'd imagine," said the source, who works in Ruto's strategic team.
Last week, Mr David Murathe, a close ally of President Uhuru Kenyatta, vowed to use all avenues to block Ruto from ascending to power but even though it's said that Uhuru gave him ultimatum to resign, the president has not openly rebuked his remarks.
Murathe said: "I will use all means to block him including moving to Supreme Court to seek advisory opinion on viability of his candidature. We have many options."