State House dismisses claims of rift between Uhuru, Ruto

State House Spokesperson Ms Kanze Dena addressing the press at State House, Nairobi.

State House has denied claims that there was a growing rift between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, a day after the Head of State lashed out at his critics.

State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena said a series of misleading narratives have been propagated through the mainstream and social media to create an impression that the duo was no longer seeing eye to eye.

On Wednesday, Uhuru seemed to lose his cool when he dismissed critics of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) task force report, saying they were directionless individuals who criticised the document even before it was released.

Dr Ruto and his allies had been leading attacks against the BBI report long before the document was launched only to make a U-turn after its launch.

“Even before we released the report, they were all over telling us about its contents. Now it has been released and they have taken us along a new direction,” the president was quoted saying in Gatundu North Sub-county on Thursday.

But yesterday, Ms Dena was quick to dismiss claims of a simmering rift between the two.

She cited a recent photo where Ruto was seen standing outside the holding room during the BBI report launch, which created a sensation online that the DP had been locked out of Uhuru’s meeting.