Rough ride for Central MPs in Deputy President Ruto camp

Central Kenya MPs backing Deputy President William Ruto in his State House bid are under immense pressure from power brokers in the region to scale down on their support.

Coming through proxies, the message asks them to “wait and read the mood”, an apparent reference to possible realignment that may take place in the run-up to the 2022 elections before making their stand known.

Already, there are reports the politicians are being bombarded by an online smear campaign. The campaign started slightly after Sunday Nation broke the National Youth Service scandal over two weeks ago and has seen several bloggers on social media sites as well as websites link the politicians to the scandal.

NYS LOOTING

The accusations have been a source of discussion in Mt Kenya region. The MPs now claim the campaign is being orchestrated by a cabal of senior civil servants and wheeler-dealers from Mt Kenya who are not keen on a Ruto presidency.  They believe the same people sponsoring the vitriol on social media are the same ones Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko alluded to three months ago when he accused unnamed persons of holding night meetings to plot how to slow down Mr Ruto.

Some of the MPs claimed to have been targeted include Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa, Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata and Ndindi Nyoro, the MP for Kiharu and firebrand Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria. Others are leaders of majority in the Senate and National Assembly Kipchumba Murkomen and Aden Duale respectively.

The MPs are accused of having benefited immensely from NYS looting. The Director of Public Prosecutions has already charged 19 suspects including top officials in the Ministry of Youth and NYS, none of them a politician.

POWERFUL MEN

Sunday Nation has learnt that the DP’s camp has decided not to publicly respond to the matter since they lack a political face and their political weight may not amount to anything in central Kenya.

“DP has decided on one key approach: Not to oppose the President in public. He will also play victim to any accusations that any central Kenya politicians opposed to him may accuse him of. He will not fall into the trap that saw ODM leader Raila Odinga go into by opposing President Kibaki openly and therefore losing the Kikuyu support. That way it will be hard to tell the masses that he is not a good man,” said a source.

Mr Ruto’s allies say the recent push for constitutional change was also sponsored by the powerful men and was calculated to isolate the DP because they expected him to reject the proposal. This, however, backfired after the President also opposed the change.

FACELESS CLIQUE

When contacted Mr Kuria said he would not want to be drawn into discussing politics. “I am on an accelerated drive to bring development to the people of Gatundu South. This is not time for politics, that time will come,” he said.

Mr Ichung’wa was more forthright. He said since those sponsoring the attacks “are known and since they have refused to publicly state their stand” it would be an easy political duel.

“This shallow thinking will fail miserably since we accompany the DP in his work as the President’s principal assistant as he espouses government policy and rolls out the agenda we all were elected on. So the flopped attempt to slander and mudsling us was a deliberate move by this faceless clique,” he said.

He said that the power brokers meet often in Gigiri and in another office in Lavington and were well known to the DP.

INSPIRATION

Mr Nyoro said he was aware of the smear campaigns but he would not waver in his support for Mr Ruto. “We’re in DP’s camp as a matter of principle. We are there for good and any detractor will not succeed. Those waging online battles and wars are wasting time. Voters are not online. They’re in villages and estates and we’re busy  in those areas,” he said.

He added that the Jubilee Party constitution is clear on the hierarchy of leadership. “The President and DP make up the presidency. To us, that is one unit. I’m the son of a late carpenter and peasant farmer, so William Ruto is naturally my inspiration,” he said.

Mr Kang’ata termed the powerful men as self-seekers who will not amount to anything.

“In 1992 similar men told Murang’a people to vote for Mwai Kibaki and not Ken Matiba, they failed. In 1997 they wanted to take us to Kanu though their outfit Central Kenya Focus Group, they failed. In 2002 they wanted us to vote for Uhuru, they failed and in 2013 they wanted Musalia Mudavadi, again they failed,” he said.