President William Ruto on Sunday maintained his hard-stance against opposition chief Raila Odinga’s political pressure, pointing to a looming prolonged political battle.

Ruto insisted that he will not succumb to Raila and his Azimio brigade’s political theatrics that aims to 'arm-twist' him into negotiating a ‘handshake'.

“Those people are used to what they have been doing. They have a bad habit. They had corporation, they came and got nusu mkate and later they got handshake,” Ruto said.

“Here, there is nothing for selfish people. There is nothing for people who are looking for positions and businesses for their families and interest for their families.”

Raila has denied he is pushing for a handshake with his rallies, insisting that he is seeking electoral justice after he was ‘rigged’ out in the August 9, 2022 polls.

The President spoke during an interdenominational church service at Ole Ntimama Stadium in Narok county on Sunday.

Ruto, accompanied by top government officials including his deputy Rigathi Gachagua and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, maintained that he won’t give Raila leeway to distract him with his rallies.

“They cannot divert us to their priorities of their business, of their families and their selfish interests. We will not accept that and we are not going that direction,” he held.

The opposition leader has sustained anti-Ruto rallies, barely six months after the general election.

On Sunday, Raila held his third pushback rally since Ruto’s election – with more lined-up in the coming days – to compel the President to give in to their demands.

In apparent reference to Raila, the President said he will not seek permission from anybody to visit or implement development projects in any part of the country.

“We are ready to build this country and we don’t need permission of those people to do the work we are doing. We don’t need their permission,” he said.

In his recent visit to Luo Nyanza, Raila’s political bastion, the ODM leader rallied his troops to attend and welcome the President to the region.

Rigathi, who asked the President to leave him and his troops to deal with Raila, said the Azimio boss is pushing for negotiations with Ruto, but maintained that he will hit a rock.

The DP asked their UDA brigade to activate their political attack dog – a group of young, energetic and eloquent politicians – to deal with the opposition.

“Kimani (Ichung’wah), Ndindi (Nyoro) and all those others, that group that sunk Azimio, system and deep state. It has not gone anywhere under the chairmanship of Kimani Ichung’wah, revive that team,” he said.

Musalia said that Azimio’s call for rallies and boycott of products at a time when the country is reeling from hard economic times amounts to economic sabotage.

While calling on the President to stay focused on reviving the economy, the former ANC boss claimed that the Azimio dug the economic hole that Kenya and her citizens are currently in.

“Mr. President, you just keep your eye on the ball. These Azimio people put us in a hole. A hole of debt. A hole that has so many problems,” he said.

“We are here in these hard economic times because of accumulative series of errors; of commissions and omissions.”

“Now it is the duty of the government to rescue all Kenyans, including those in Azimio. We have no time to waste. Let’s focus,” he said.

National Assembly Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah said he would lead Kenya Kwanza’s attack team against Raila and his brigade.

The Kikuyu MP alleged Raila’s anti-government rallies are being sponsored by those who bankrolled his presidential campaigns.

The financiers, he claimed, are keen to use the rallies to conceal the atrocities and chaos that happened at the Bomas of Kenya, the national tallying centre for last year’s elections.

“If they did not intimidate you when you were fighting with the deep state and system, how will they do it now?” he posed.

Meanwhile, President Ruto has rubbished reports that his administration has embarked on a borrowing spree after it was reported that he has borrowed Sh137 billion in three months.

Instead, Ruto said he has cut borrowing by Sh300 billion contrary to the reports.

The President also called for crackdown on drugs and illicit alcohol, and a review of licences issued for liquor selling business to protect millions of Kenyans, especially youth sinking in drug and substance abuse.