'Quit URP and we'll prove you are irrelevant', Governor Ruto told

BOMET: The United Republican Party (URP) leadership has dared Governor Isaac Ruto to make good his threats and quit the party.

Speaking to The Standard yesterday, URP Secretary General Fred Muteti said the party was ready to declare the Bomet gubernatorial seat vacant as soon as Mr Ruto made the announcement.

"Ruto should stop giving us threats and instead do the necessary by writing to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the Registrar of Political Parties declaring that he was no longer a member of URP, then we will show him how irrelevant he is," Mr Muteti said.

The official observed that the URP leadership under Deputy President William Ruto was ready to ensure that Bomet residents got another capable governor within the shortest time possible.

"URP is not short of leaders who are willing and capable of taking over the leadership of Bomet County if Ruto leaves. In fact he is wasting his time talking about leaving the party yet we know very well he is already out," the Secretary General said.

Muteti said the party was still strong in Rift Valley and most of the people in the area supported the merger with The National Alliance to form the Jubilee Alliance Party (JAP).

"Rift Valley is 100 per cent behind the Deputy President and Jubilee minus Governor Ruto who has reduced himself to a noise maker," he said.

He claimed that Governor Ruto was trying to gain political mileage by criticising the DP even when he has nothing to say.