Deputy President William Ruto has remained adamant that he will not support a constitutional change that seeks to burden the taxpayer.
Speaking on Wednesday at his Sugoi home in Uasin Gishu when he held a meeting with leaders from Bungoma and Busia counties, the DP said any constitutional change that will burden Kenyans should be shot down.
He also hailed the current form of the devolved unit and called on leaders to ‘protect it’.
“Anything that seeks to impede the fruits of devolution would also be opposed. We would want to see reforms that would make counties thrive,” the DP said.
Ruto has been giving mixed signals over his position on the referendum. Speaking in Tharaka Nithi on October, the DP said he would support the plebiscite.
"Sisi hatuna shida na referendum lakini tuko na shida na unafiki na utapeli...ukituambia ya kuwa referendum ilikubaliwa siku ya handshake, hiyo ni uongo na unafiki (We do not have a problem with referendum but we have issues with fraud and pretence....if you tell us that this was agreed during the handshake, that is a lie), he said.
He later took a u-turn and told off politicians, led by his political rival Raila Odinga, for pushing for constitutional change.
“Political competition ended long time ago and what is important is to deliver on development projects. Don’t agree to be divided by politicians who don’t have any development track record and are only interested in politics between elections,” he said a few days later after speaking in Tharaka Nithi.
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