Deputy President William Ruto has reportedly cancelled a planned trip to Murang’a today (Sunday).
According to reports by Sunday Nation, the DP cancelled the trip to avoid a clash of itinerary with the President’s tour.
The two leaders were today expected to attend separate events within the same county.
Earlier Saturday, some of his handlers had indicated that he would visit the region but he would skip the church service-cum fundraiser he was scheduled to attend in Kandara and join President Uhuru Kenyatta at ACK Kenol.
However, according to the local daily, Ruto’s spokesman David Mugonyi later said that the DP had decided to shelve the visit altogether.
“The answer as to whether the Deputy President will be visiting Murang’a is ‘no’, nothing more,” Mr Mugonyi said curtly when contacted.
Another close aide of the DP said that he had not been aware that the President would be touring the area around the time he was scheduled to attend the fundraiser.
“We would not want to be seen as subjecting the two to supremacy contests of sorts,” he said.
Sunday Nation reports that Ruto’s change of plan was informed by a policy he adopted not to appear to antagonise the President in his backyard, a constituency upon which he hopes to ride to State House in the next General Election.
The DP is betting big on the central Kenya support to boost his presidential bid and has attended dozens of functions there since 2013.
Reports of the parallel visits elicited mixed reactions about the working relationship of the country’s top leadership at a time when speculation is rife that the marriage is on the rocks.
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