Uhuru, Ruto Hold Five-Hour Crisis Meeting at State House

President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto on Friday held a five-hour crisis meeting following weeks of disquiet in the ruling party Jubilee.

The mid-morning to early afternoon meeting held at State House, Nairobi sought to avert possible fallout in Jubilee party before the President completes his term in 2022, reports Daily Nation..

The meeting, also attended by key Jubilee leaders, resolved to convene a Parliamentary Group meeting on Tuesday to address contentious issues.

The crisis meeting between Kenyatta and Ruto came days after Rift Valley MPs held a consultative meeting at Weston Hotel on Wednesday and another one at the Deputy President's residence in Karen, where Ruto is said to have asked them to “avoid making reckless statements henceforth”.

National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale last week asked Jubilee MPs and leaders to stop politicking and focus on President Uhuru's legacy.

“Let us tone down the rhetoric. Let us focus on service delivery for Kenyans and use President Kenyatta’s legacy to launch the DP’s 2022 ambition,” he said.

“The party is united and what has transpired is normal internal democratic debate in a vibrant vehicle. It has not derailed our unity and going forward, I urge my colleagues in the rank and file of the party to embrace one another. We have the President’s Big Four agenda campaign to implement and time is not on our side,” Senate Deputy Speaker Kithure Kindiki said.

In a recent interview with Citizen TV, Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen admitted that all was not well between President Uhuru and Ruto's camps.

“We are concerned about the existence of a small wing of individuals who occupy high offices spending their time trying to plant seeds of discord in the Jubilee Party. They are people in government, the Office of the President with the desire to break Jubilee to create a wedge between the President and his deputy.”

“… some were lying to the President that implementing the Big Four agenda is all that mattered,” Murkomen, who questioned President Uhuru recent order for lifestyle audit on civil servants, said.

Murkomen said the declaration by the President appeared to be targeting Ruto. “The assumption that if you own a car, a house you must be corrupt, what if you own a bank?”