President William Ruto has dismissed critics questioning his leadership skills and advising him on how to approach the electorates in order to be re-elected to office for a second term.

Speaking during the Africa CEO Forum held in Kigali, Rwanda, the President declared that he was not elected only to look forward to being re-elected, but rather to work hard and transform the nation.

According to the Head of State, a section of his advisors are more concerned about his re-election, yet the elephant in the room is about making the right decisions which can take the country forward.

“Leadership is about decision making; leading is about making the right decisions and I am always challenged because when I make right decisions people always tell me you know you have to think about your re-election,” said Ruto amidst applause.

“I keep reminding them that I was not elected to be re-elected, I was elected to transform the country.”

Ruto underscored that most of the policies by his regime are focused primarily on making the “right decisions,” which may sometimes be deemed unpopular by a large section of people thus the perception that he may be a one-time President.

He instead reiterated that he is aware that his leadership model seemingly appears unpopular because it is comprised of difficult decisions meant to serve the good of the public.

“I remember when I speak in some fora and people come and whisper to me, ‘Oh you know, don't say too much because you see, you know these people might get annoyed with you’…I ask myself, it's not in my place to say what people want to hear or what is popular, it is my position to say what is right, and what is right is not necessarily popular,” he stated.

The President consequently defended his affordable housing pet project, which he said was among the unpopular decisions, stating that he had to pursue it for the well-being of over 7 million people living in slums.

Ruto faulted the opposition for the criticism over the programme intimating that it amounted to irony and a double standard since even they had it in their own manifesto, just that they failed to clinch power.

He went on to reaffirm that his regime would ensure it hits its target of providing proper shelter to over a million Kenyans at the end of his five-year term

“We agreed with the people that housing is a problem. We have 7 million people living in slums…everybody agrees that we have to invest in housing. Both the manifesto of the party I lead and my challengers had housing but when it came to implementation, the uproar was unbelievable,” he said.

“We have now 120,000 housing units under construction in Kenya and it is my intention to get 1 million Kenyan homeowners in the next 5 years; that is the function of leadership.”