NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 17 \u2013 Presidential hopeful Fred Matiang\u2019i on Tuesday fired back at President William Ruto, calling for respect and maturity in leadership as the political temperature ahead of 2027 continues to rise.<\/p>\n
Speaking in Narok while meeting Jubilee Party delegates, Matiang\u2019i took issue with remarks by President Ruto, who had earlier mocked his opponents weight and eating habits.<\/p>\n
\u201cKwanza mimi nauliza wengine waende gym\u2026 Wacheni kula chakula mingi\u2026 Tumbo karibu inaparsuka\u2026\u201d Ruto said, in comments widely seen as targeting opposition leaders.<\/p>\n
In his response Matiang\u2019i, said he has always avoided attacking the President out of respect for the office.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all mimi sijui kwa nini unasumbuka vile nakula kwa sababu mimi sikuli kwa bibi yako. Mimi hujaona\u2026 yeah, hujaona nikija\u2026 yeah, hujaona nikija kutafuta chakula kwa bibi yako ama kwa watu wako,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect the office of the President. Katiba yetu inaonyesha wazi that the person in that office is a symbol of national unity.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he has deliberately chosen to stay away from personal attacks, even when under pressure to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like talking about personal things or attacking other leaders. We must be the change that we desire,\u201d Matiang\u2019i told the crowd.<\/p>\n
Matiang\u2019i warned that the country risks lowering the dignity of leadership if politicians continue engaging in insults and personal jabs.<\/p>\n
\u201cKenyans expect those who seek leadership to be measured, mature and decent\u2014even in the language we use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He expressed concern that young people are watching closely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatoto wetu hawawezi kuamka asubuhi watupate tukitukanana. That destroys the image of leadership,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Matiang\u2019i suggested that the President\u2019s tone signals pressure as political competition intensifies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he is going this low, it means he is cornered and desperate,\u201d Matiang\u2019i claimed.<\/p>\n
He urged religious leaders and senior government officials to advise the President to tone down.<\/p>\n
\u201cMwambie atulie\u2026 you are carrying a very heavy responsibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 17 \u2013 Presidential hopeful Fred Matiang\u2019i on Tuesday fired back at President William Ruto, calling for respect and maturity in leadership as the political temperature ahead of 2027 continues to rise. Speaking in Narok while meeting Jubilee Party delegates, Matiang\u2019i took issue with remarks by President Ruto, who had earlier mocked his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}