Julius Malema slams Ruto over King Charles visit, failed election promises
South African opposition leader Julius Malema has challenged President William Ruto to come clear on his foreign policy.
Speaking at the launch of the Pan-African Institute in Makueni County, Kenya on November 9, 2023, the vocal Malema also hit out at President Ruto for failing to deliver what he promised to Kenyans during the campaigns ahead of the August 2022 polls.
The popular politician, known for his outspoken nature, suggested President Ruto had changed from the person who campaigned and asked Kenyans to trust him with their votes.
“I don’t know if President William Ruto means it because he said so many things and I cannot locate him these days because the things he said during the campaigns and the things he is doing now are two different things,” observed Malema.
He also tore into President Ruto’s foreign policy.
“I don’t know, because I heard him saying we need to do away with the dollar and build our own but his actions are not speaking to anything of doing away with the dollar.”
Malema, who is the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party in his homeland also castigated the Kenyan Head of State for “failing to follow the true cause of the African freedom fighters who were killed and tortured by the colonialists”.
King Charle’s visit
According to him, it was wrong for President Ruto to smile and shake hands with the United Kingdom’s King Charles and Queen Camilla during their recent visit to Kenya.
“The latest being putting a red carpet for the murder, a person who killed the Kenyan people coming to this country, receiving a red carpet and being saluted by our army. This is a Kenyan army, not a colonialist army.”
He continued that:
“The Kenyan army is a product of the Mau Mau rebellion, and those who killed our people in the Mau Mau rebellion cannot be saluted by the same army of the children of those who were killed during the Mau Mau rebellion. We must stay true to the cause.”
Malema said Africans must remind the King and Britain of what they did to Africans during the colonial era.
“Indeed he showed no remorse, he said this was bad, it shouldn’t have happened but he ran short of, (saying) I apologise. He will never say he is sorry because he thinks that his race makes him superior and he is not qualified to apologise to those who are junior to him.”
Further, Malema asked the Kenyan government to be firm and decide what they want to do, either be Pan-Africanists or proponents of neo-colonialism.
It is not the first time Malema has shared a controversial stance on Kenyan politics.
After the 2022 polls, Malema asked his Kenyan counterpart leader Raila Odinga to retire from politics and allow fresh blood.
His comments came after Mr Odinga disputed the outcome of the 2022 polls in which he narrowly lost to President Ruto..
Malema has also called on President Ruto to unequivocally stand with Palestine in its war against Israel.
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