'I don't believe in handshake stories,' President-elect Ruto says on working with Azimio

President-elect William Ruto has ruled out the possibility of engaging in a political handshake with his rival Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga.

Ruto says his intention is to work with his competitors in their official capacity as the opposition in a bid to buttress his administration to ensure he runs a government that operates under checks and balances.

“My competitors have a role to play. I will work with my competitors in the role that the Constitution assigns the people in the opposition. They will provide oversight over my government and I intend to work with them in that capacity,” said Ruto.

Ruto was speaking on Monday in a joint media interview after he was officially declared the winner of the August 9^th presidential election.

The president-elect says he does not believe in compromising democracy through negotiations that result in a government that is not accountable.

Ruto cited the last four years of President Kenyatta’s government saying the handshake between Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga resulted in a “mongrel of a government where no one knows who is in the Executive and who is in the opposition."

“I never believed in the handshake stories. I believe in democracy. I believe in a government that has checks and balances. When you have a government that does not have the opposition, you have the very high risk of having a government that is not accountable, precisely what we have seen over the last four years,” said Ruto.

He added: “That is why the people of Kenya voted for me and my team. They want a government that has checks and balances. They want a government that is accountable. They do not want a mongrel of a government where nobody knows who is the executive, who is the opposition and who is doing what. I think the people of Kenya want clarity because we are democrats.”

During his last tenure as deputy president, Ruto remained consistently critical of the Uhuru-Raila handshake which he blamed for the failure of the Jubilee government to deliver on some of its key agendas.