‘Congrats Bill, you were perfect,’ Rachel tells husband William Ruto after Presidential Debate

DP Ruto who is the front-runner of the Kenya Kwanza alliance appeared on stage alone after his main rival from the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition, Raila Odinga, boycotted the exercise.

This gave the moderators, Yvonne Okwara and Eric Latiff, an opportunity to engage the Deputy President for 1 hr 30 minutes.

Taking to Twitter, Mama Rachel said the DP’s performance was ‘perfect’ and expressed goodwill to her husband in his August 9 quest to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In the social media post, Rachel used her oft-preferred name in public goodwill messages dedicated to her husband – Bill.

“Congratulations Bill. You were perfect. The last man standing. May God carry you through,” wrote Mrs. Ruto.

Rachel had earlier accompanied the DP to the debate with other Kenya Kwanza allied leaders, including his running-mate Rigathi Gachagua.

On his part, Mr. Gachagua commended his leader’s performance as admirable, tweeting “Congratulations my boss, our Kenya Kwanza captain for not abandoning Kenyans when they needed to hear from you.”

“The articulation of our plan and your passion is admirable. Kenyans are confident that a real leader will shepherd our country into a positive trajectory,” he added.

Mr. Odinga on Sunday announced that he will skip the debate because he was willing to engage Dr. Ruto.

The Azimio leader’s presidential campaign secretariat said in a statement that joining DP Ruto on stage would be “a bad idea”, terming Ruto as a leader who “will do and say anything” to seek power.

The campaign secretariat said that instead of the “traditional debate”, Mr. Odinga and his running mate in the August 9 race, Martha Karua, will hold a televised town hall in Nairobi to engage voters.

DP Ruto and Mr. Odinga are in the State House race alongside Roots Party leader Prof. George Wajackoyah and Agano Party’s David Waihiga.