President-elect William Ruto has been praised by Francis Atwoli, secretary-general of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), for being a diplomatic politician with a strategy.
On Friday, September 9, Atwoli said that if the results of the presidential election are any indication, Ruto’s political strategy outperformed that of Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya. He was speaking at a burial in the Khwisero Constituency, Kakamega County.
55-year-old Ruto will succeed Kenya’s fourth president. Against Raila Odinga’s 6.94 million votes, he received 7.18 million votes, or 50.49 percent of the vote, to win the presidential election on August 9, 2022. (48.85 per cent).
Atwoli was a fervent advocate for Odinga’s presidential campaign, which had the support of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“I believed that Odinga would win the presidential election by defeating William Ruto.
The COTU leader believes that God’s plans are enigmatic and invulnerable to human interference.
“Ruto is a political con artist whose wager was successful. It seems like we were politically naive in Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition,” he remarked.
According to Atwoli, Raila Odinga’s political rallies drew sizable crowds, which indicated that most Kenyans were in favor of the former prime minister’s campaign for the presidency.
“It appears that our initial assumptions were incorrect. The promises some voters made to us did not come true at the polls, he claimed.
The seasoned trade unionist claimed that Ruto defeated Odinga tactically, especially when it came to organizing his supporters to cast ballots, securing his strongholds, and adopting a campaign message that many Kenyans could relate to.
Atwoli has declared that he will organize COTU members to show up for Ruto’s swearing-in on Tuesday, September 13, at the Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi.
Atwoli, who had previously expressed his certainty that Ruto would not succeed Kenya’s current president, recently changed his mind, saying he was aware of Ruto’s qualifications to hold the position in the future.
Atwoli adopted a conciliatory tone in an interview with NTV on September 5, indicating he was prepared to cooperate with Ruto’s administration for the sake of Kenyan workers.
“Any democracy could experience what happened (a candidate supported by the opposition winning an election). I was within my constitutional rights to say what I did about Ruto in the context of competition.
Politician William Ruto is intelligent. I did not declare he couldn’t be president since I had predicted that he would become Kenya’s president. I’m calling on all Kenyans to unite behind him, allow him the chance to establish his own government, and show their support, said Atwoli.
Ruto has promised to lead Kenya toward economic expansion, debt reduction, social progress, and open government.
Regardless of who voted for him, Atwoli asked Ruto to be a unifying president who cares about the wellbeing of all Kenyans.
“Ruto pledged during his campaigns to enhance the welfare of the Luhya people. I’m delighted he has representatives of the Luhya community in his camp. For instance, he has Ababu Namwamba, Moses Wetangula, and Musalia Mudavadi. I have faith that he will keep his word.
