{"id":34304,"date":"2021-08-26T16:09:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T16:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?p=34304"},"modified":"2021-08-26T14:29:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T14:29:46","slug":"atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party","title":{"rendered":"Atwoli Reveals Role in Formation of DP Ruto’s Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Kenya<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli, now says he helped in the formation of Deputy President William Ruto’s political party.<\/p>\n

Speaking on KBC TV on Wednesday, August 25 night, Atwoli stated that he played a critical role in the formation of the United Republican Party (URP) that was dissolved in the run-up to the 2017 election to pave way for the formation of the Jubilee Party.<\/p>\n

Atwoli told the station that he hosted leaders from the URP party at his home in Western Kenya after the Deputy President decamped from the Raila Odinga-led Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Ruto was a member of the ODM party but ditched it after falling out with Odinga.<\/p>\n

The outspoken unionist further claimed that Ruto deployed Mumias East Member of Parliament, Benjamin Washiali, to monitor the party’s activities from his (Atwoli’s) house.<\/p>\n

“When he wanted to form his political party, URP, he used to get people like Washiali monitoring from my house which is in Western Province,” Atwoli stated.<\/p>\n

DP Ruto officially launched the URP party in January 2012. In December of the same year, the party’s leadership ratified a pre-election deal with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s then party of choice, The National Alliance (TNA). The deal saw Uhuru pick Ruto as his running mate in the 2013 General Election, securing a win for the duo that was facing charges at the International Criminal Court at the Hague.<\/p>\n

In 2016, URP officially merged with TNA and other parties allied to President Kenyatta and Ruto, forming the Jubilee Party that secured the two a second term in office in the 2017 elections.<\/p>\n

On his personal relationship with the DP, Atwoli said that the two have no personal grudges, but differ ideologically.<\/p>\n

He noted that the differences between them emanated from a scandal that was reported at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), in which Atwoli represents the workers.<\/p>\n

“I do not have a personal problem with Deputy President William Ruto, the problem that was there was because of my work back then at NSSF,” Atwoli stated.<\/p>\n

The trade unionist reiterated his stand that the Deputy President will not be elected as Head of State to succeed Uhuru, saying that his chances were slim despite commanding a substantive following.<\/p>\n

“Ruto will not be elected now, may be in the future and he will definitely, then, want to review the constitution, and it’s normal.”<\/p>\n

On his future, Atwoli stated that he plans to exit the stage after his current term expires at COTU and he has no plans to venture into elective politics.<\/p>\n

“I have no interest in running for presidency. I was to retire in 2011, but my colleagues refused, same in 2016 and this year. This will be by last term then retire. I will be a Sunday school teacher,” he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Kenya. The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli, now says he helped in the formation of Deputy President William Ruto’s political party. Speaking on KBC TV on Wednesday, August 25 night, Atwoli stated that he played a critical role in the formation of the United Republican Party (URP) that was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":34303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,10,16],"tags":[6857,7003,544],"class_list":["post-34304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-kenya","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"\nAtwoli Reveals Role in Formation of DP Ruto's Party - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli, now says he helped in the formation o ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Atwoli Reveals Role in Formation of DP Ruto's Party\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli, now says he helped in the formation o ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-26T16:09:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/08\/img-6127a541cfcc5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Atwoli Reveals Role in Formation of DP Ruto’s Party\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-26T16:09:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party\"},\"wordCount\":480,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/08\/img-6127a541cfcc5.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Kenya\",\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"parties\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/atwoli-reveals-role-in-formation-of-dp-rutos-party\",\"name\":\"Atwoli Reveals Role in Formation of DP Ruto's Party - 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