Unease in Jubilee as William Ruto hand seen in nominations

From left-Nairobi County Governor aspirant Mike Sonko, his running mate Polycarp Igathe, Deputy President William Ruto and other aspirants for MCA, MP, Senate positions during a media briefing where Sonko unveiled his running mate at Jubilee Party Headquarters in Nairobi on May 17, 2017. PHOTO | SATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Peter Kenneth’s backers believe their man is a victim of the DP’s presidential ambition.
  • With President Uhuru Kenyatta exiting from elective politics this year or in 2022, Kenneth is one of the key political figures emerging from Central Kenya region.
  • Mr Ruto’s influence in Jubilee affairs did not start and end with the unveiling of Mr Igathe.
  • On May 4, the DP hosted delegations from Western Kenya and Ukambani at his Karen residence where he assured them of his support in their campaigns.

Deputy President William Ruto’s high profile presence at the unveiling of Polycarp Igathe as Mike Sonko’s running mate for the Nairobi gubernatorial seat last week is the latest pointer to his immense influence on the Jubilee Party line-up for the August election and beyond.

Whereas Mr Ruto’s presence at the function may have been viewed against the fact that he is the Jubilee Party deputy leader, it may not have escaped keen observers that here was the Deputy President endorsing the candidature of a man who had fought off attempts to have him step down for the party’s choice for the position, former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth.

If anything, Kenneth’s backers believe their man is a victim of the DP’s presidential ambition.

With President Uhuru Kenyatta exiting from elective politics this year or in 2022, Kenneth is one of the key political figures emerging from Central Kenya region.

POLITICAL FIGURES

The former assistant minister unsuccessfully vied for president in 2013 but had this year set his eyes on the prized Nairobi Governor’s seat.

This would have ensured his visibility on the political radar and clearly bolstered his chances for “bigger things” including the Kenyatta succession.

Although the DP has denied claims of working against any candidate, he has demonstrated solidarity with the 2013 presidential candidate’s opponents.

On February 19, for instance, Mr Ruto attended church service at CITAM Karen in Nairobi and proceeded thereafter into a meeting with some members of the so-called “Team Nairobi” over a lunch of nyama choma at a popular eatery in Kawangware.

“Team Nairobi” is allied to Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko, who floored Kenneth in the recent party primaries. 

NAIROBI POLITICS

Those in attendance, including Nominated MP and Nairobi senatorial aspirant Johnson Sakaja and Dagoretti MP Dennis Waweru, maintained the meeting had nothing to do with Nairobi politics.

However, it did not escape notice that three months later, it is the DP who unveiled Sonko and Mr Igathe last week as Jubilee’s candidates for Nairobi’s gubernatorial seat.  

Yet Mr Ruto’s influence in Jubilee affairs did not start and end with the unveiling of Mr Igathe.

This month alone, delegations of Jubilee Party candidates from at least seven regions have trooped to the DP’s Karen residence to what is akin to the Kanu era delegations which would visit State House Nairobi or the Kabarak home of then President Daniel Moi.

On May 4, the DP hosted delegations from Western Kenya and Ukambani at his Karen residence where he assured them of his support in their campaigns.

JUBILEE ASPIRANTS

The following day, it was the turn of delegations from Coast and Gusii to pay homage.

Last Wednesday, a delegation of Jubilee aspirants from Kericho county called on the DP at his Weston Hotel on Lang’ata road.

He also hosted a delegation of Jubilee leaders from Kirinyaga county led by former foe-turned ally, Anne Waiguru at his Karen residence on the same day.

Come Friday and Mr Ruto received delegations of Jubilee leaders from Bomet and Nyandarua counties at his Karen residence who also pledged loyalty.

Mr Ruto’s activities are being viewed in political circles as part of the 2022 Uhuru Kenyatta succession plot – a situation that has emboldened political allies but unsettled antagonists within the ruling party.

CONTRASTING REACTIONS

The reason for the contrasting reactions is Mr Ruto’s intensified political activities which, rightly or wrongly, are being linked to his resolve to vie for the Presidency in five year’s time.

But the biggest source of disharmony, is the DP’s quest to inherit President Kenyatta’s political constituency, particularly of Central Kenya.

From the moment Kiambu Governor William Kabogo became the first politician in June last year to verbalise the view held by some in Central Kenya that Mr Ruto would not automatically inherit Mr Kenyatta’s political constituency, tension within Jubilee has lingered on, albeit quietly.   

Speaking in Juja, Governor Kabogo said the decision as to who would become President would not be automatic.

Mr Ruto reacted by reminding the Kiambu governor that Jubilee was a national party and not an ethnic entity.

SILVER PLATTER

He stressed that he was not expecting anything on a silver platter.

Incidentally, Mr Kabogo’s “rude shock” came rather too early – thanks to a major electoral loss in the party primaries in the hands of challenger, Ferdinand Waititu aka Baba Yao.

Instructively, Mr Waititu is a close ally of the DP, while his running mate James Nyoro, previously worked in Mr Ruto’s office as an advisor on Agriculture.

Mr Kabogo, and most of the Central Kenya politicians who lost in the primaries, have claimed that they were rigged out.  

“The DP may not have favoured his allies but his hand has been seen elsewhere and in many places. And of course politics is more about perception than reality,” says political scientist, Dr Richard Bosire.  

But exonerating Mr Ruto from blame, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale explains that the DP was seconded to the Jubilee headquarters by the President solely to fix the poll fiasco after it kicked off on a wrong footing.

INTERFERE

If the DP wanted to interfere with the exercise, says the Garissa Town MP, he would have rigged out some of his harshest critics like Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter and Oscar Sudi of Kapseret.

“Every politician in Kenya today, in Jubilee and opposition, has formed the habit of blaming the DP for their political woes.

In essence, Ruto has become a common denominator in the Kenyan political blame game,” says the Majority Leader.

Word on the political grapevine is that a number of leaders, mainly from Central Kenya region, maintain Mr Ruto is responsible for their troubles and have formed an outfit of independent candidates from the region.

Among its members are Mr Kabogo and fellow Nakuru and Kirinyaga governors Kinuthia Mbugua and Joseph Ndathi, former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth, Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau, Nyeri and Murang’a senators, Mutahi Kagwe and Kembi Gitura, and John Mututho, a gubernatorial aspirant for Nakuru.

BLAMED KIUNJURI

Reports have also appeared saying the politicians also blamed Devolution CS Mwangi Kiunjuri for their woes and told President Kenyatta that Mr Kiunjuri had influenced the outcome of the primaries. Mr Kiunjuri has denied the claims.

Prof Amukowa Anangwe believes the DP has jumped the gun already.

According to him, Mr Ruto is engrossed in scheming about his own election five years from now and President Kenyatta’s re-election bid is secondary.

But Mr Duale explains that as deputy party leader, Mr Ruto has the duty of fronting Jubilee campaigns countrywide, including unveiling the party’s candidates, as he did on Tuesday.

“This is not about the DP’s 2022 plot. Right now he is more concerned about delivering victory to President Uhuru and he is using his resources and energy to do that.

Otherwise 2022 is a different ballgame as the dynamics in Kenyan politics keep changing,” says Duale.

JUBILEE PRIMARIES

Prof Anangwe finds it puzzling that many of Mr Ruto’s allies were elected in the Jubilee primaries at the expense of Mr Kenyatta’s supporters. 

“It’s a very unprecedented move that the DP can openly upstage his boss with equal vested interests. This is a new one in the annals of Kenya’s political history and there must be some hidden reason for this,” says the political science lecturer at University of Dodoma in Tanzania.

Dr Bosire of the University of Nairobi, suggests an answer: “Uhuru appears to have rescinded his political fate to Ruto. He believes he cannot win a second term without the numbers from the vote-rich Rift Valley region. He has accordingly allowed his deputy a free hand to run the show as long as that guarantees him the vote in August.”

Dr Bosire’s explanation mirrors on complaints of the late William ole Ntimama. A couple of months before he passed on, the former Cabinet minister organised a visit of Maasai leaders to State House, only for the event to be cancelled at the 11th hour.

HINTED FRUSTRATIONS
Mr Ntimama solely blamed the saga on the DP, insinuating that he was running government affairs expressly.

Pundits say Mr Ruto wanted the ole Ntimama lot to defect to Jubilee through his then URP party and not the President’s TNA outfit.

Former Cabinet minister Joe Nyaga recently hinted at similar frustrations when he organised a visit to State House.

Mr Nyaga has since decamped from Jubilee and plans to vie for president as an independent candidate.

Nonetheless, Bosire observes that Mr Ruto is an astute politician, “who is just doing what is right to protect his space”.

Any smart politician in his place, he says, would similarly play his cards to ward off competition from Central and within the wider Jubilee fraternity.

Additional reporting by Peter Leftie