Ruto Addresses Claims of 20-Year Presidency Plan
President William Ruto has firmly denied claims that he intends to extend Kenya’s presidential term limits, insisting he has no desire to remain in office beyond the constitutionally mandated period.
Speaking at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday, December 2, the President criticised what he described as deliberate misinterpretations of his earlier remarks, saying those spreading such claims were being dishonest and misleading the public.
“Some people with bad manners went around claiming that I want to be president for twenty years,” President Ruto said. “Completely foolish people. Do they think I’m crazy? People seem to imagine that being president is easy.”
Ruto added that he looks forward to the day he will leave office and hand over leadership to a successor.
“I am actually waiting for the day I leave this office so someone else can take over and move things forward,” he stated.
Comments Taken Out of Context
The speculation arose after remarks the President made on Friday, November 28, while defending his administration’s affordable housing programme. During that event, Ruto questioned how the country might look if the project continued uninterrupted for two decades.
“If this work of building houses and markets across the country has taken two years, how about ten years, or twenty years? Won’t Kenya change?” he asked.
A section of social media users interpreted the hypothetical comment as a signal that the Head of State was considering serving beyond the two-term constitutional limit. The suggestion quickly triggered debate, with critics accusing the government of testing public reaction to potential constitutional amendments.
Ruto Reiterates Position on Term Limits
This is not the first time President Ruto has dismissed talk of extending his stay in power. In November 2022, while addressing the Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group, he told lawmakers that altering the Constitution for personal gain was unacceptable.
“You were elected to serve the people; their issues must come first,” he said at the time.
“As President, I won’t participate in efforts aimed at mutilating the Constitution for parochial, selfish, and personal interests.”
Background to the Debate
The discussion around term limits resurfaced in 2022 after Fafi MP Yakub Salah publicly proposed scrapping the two-term presidential cap and replacing it with an age-based system. The idea attracted swift criticism from civil society groups, legal scholars, and opposition figures who described it as an attack on democratic safeguards.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) later distanced itself from the proposal, clarifying that the MP’s comments did not reflect the party’s official position.
With the debate now revived by online speculation, President Ruto has moved once again to reassure Kenyans that he intends to respect the Constitution and serve only within the limits it prescribes.
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Ruto Addresses Claims of 20-Year Presidency Plan