Talk of State House team to fight William Ruto could be last straw for Jubilee
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro (right) confers with Deputy President William Ruto at Gaturi Primary School during Mr Nyoro’s thanksgiving ceremony, on July 28, 2018. On the left is Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria. Mt Kenya leaders pledged to support Mr Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid. PHOTO | GRACE GITAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Mr Odinga was President Kenyatta’s main rival in the 2017 elections until March when the two unexpectedly declared a truce.
Ruto’s allies accused ODM leader Raila Odinga of fanning the anti-Ruto manoeuvres.
Mr Odinga, they said, wanted to use Baringo Senator Gideon Moi to split the Kalenjin vote to deny Mr Ruto the big prize.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu said no one would slow down the DP’s political momentum unless he is standing in the way of the President’s goals to secure his legacy.
The face-off between Deputy President William Ruto and powerful forces opposed to his presidential ambitions is set to explode in public and could cause a split in the Jubilee Party.
A coming together of Mr Ruto’s critics both within and without the ruling coalition, that appears aimed at stopping his presidential ambitions, has rattled the DP’s allies.
Sunday Nation has established that Mr Ruto’s opponents have set up a secretariat, with offices in Nairobi’s Gigiri and Lavington suburbs, to coordinate the campaign against him.
And on Saturday, Mr Ruto’s allies, speaking in Kericho, accused ODM leader Raila Odinga of fanning the anti-Ruto manoeuvres.
Mr Odinga, they said, wanted to use Baringo Senator Gideon Moi to split the Kalenjin vote to deny Mr Ruto the big prize.
Significantly, they spoke as President Uhuru Kenyatta met Gideon Moi at his father’s Kabarak home for four hours on Saturday before proceeding to a funeral in Rongai.
Mr Odinga was President Kenyatta’s main rival in the 2017 elections until March when the two unexpectedly declared a truce.
HANDSHAKE
Sources said the secretariat has hired consultants, who include a prominent lawyer and a political campaign strategist. Its main financier is the relative of a senior Jubilee leader.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei yesterday said: “We are aware of a secretariat working day and night to frustrate the DP. It is taking advantage of the handshake between President Uhuru and Raila Odinga to come up with all manner of things to put a spanner in the works. It’s behind the anti-corruption fight, lifestyle audit proposal and the Mau evictions.”
Mr Ruto’s allies say the latest round of evictions were orchestrated to put the DP in an awkward situation as he would not oppose a government directive.
It was expected that only Mr Moi, who has declared interest in the presidency, and his allies would go to Mau and milk political mileage from the evictions.
In the end, Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen led an uncharacteristically strong opposition to the manner the evictions were being carried out.
Mr Cherargei said Mr Ruto’s allies will work day and night to ensure he triumphs in 2022 “against all odds”.
NEUTRAL POSITION
The President has tried to stay above the fray and project a neutral position in his succession fight. However, some observers say at some point soon his name will be dragged into the skirmishes as Mr Ruto’s allies threaten to unmask those they claim are out to block their man from ascending to the presidency.
In the run-up to the 2017 elections, Mr Ruto was seen as occupying the inside lane in the race to succeed Mr Kenyatta.
Many Jubilee politicians were falling over themselves to support him. However, things have radically changed since Mr Kenyatta reached a truce with Odinga in March.
Mr Ruto’s allies now say there appears to be a choreographed move to either ensure the DP does not become the next president or become one on the terms of his detractors.
But Mr Murkomen on Saturday sought to tone down claims of an elaborate plan to stop Mr Ruto, saying the apparent disagreements were common in all governments.
“Even Mau was not really about me. I am happy that for the last five days there has not been any burning of houses and senior government officials were sent down there to get the correct diagnosis of the problem,” he said.
WEATHER THE STORM
Soy MP Caleb Kositany said Mr Ruto is politically adept and will weather the storm.
“We expect more hurdles because there are people who can’t allow the son of a peasant to rise to the presidency,” he added.
The DP’s allies say he has already surmounted challenges such as a proposal to change the Constitution, political debt talk in central Kenya and lifestyle audit.
Mr Ruto launched his 2022 campaigns soon after Mr Kenyatta was sworn in for his second and last term.
However, some in the President’s camp saw his countrywide tours as overshadowing his boss and putting his Big Four legacy projects on the back burner.
Additionally, they feared this would reduce the President to a lame duck as more politicians joined his deputy’s camp.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu said on Saturday no one would slow down the DP’s political momentum unless he is standing in the way of the President’s goals to secure his legacy.
“If anyone was to obstruct the President from meeting his goals then the people who serve him would be obligated to get that person out of the way,” he said.
BURIED THE HATCHET
Mr Ruto’s ambitions took a blow when Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga buried the hatchet and embarked on their Building Bridges project. The reduced tension has also seen the President’s legacy agenda get more public attention.
But Mr Ruto’s allies seem determined not to allow the Uhuru-Raila dalliance to stall the DP’s march to State House.
However, both sides, Sunday Nation has learnt, are not keen to bring out the full ammunition this early with elections four years away.
They see the President’s freeze on new projects, which he argued was meant to stop runaway spending and debt, as undermining the DP’s campaigns because he has been promising projects.
When the constitutional change proposal emerged early this year, the DP strongly opposed it and eventually the President also vetoed the idea.
Floated by Tiaty MP William Kamket (Kanu), it proposed radical changes in the power structure including introducing the position of a powerful prime minister and significantly clipping presidential powers. The DP’s allies saw this as a ploy to weaken the presidency just when Mr Ruto had a realistic chance of occupying it.
POLITICAL DEBT
Then there was the online campaign stating that Mt Kenya region voters had no political debt to pay. The issue was fast developing into a political storm that the DP shut down by saying he expected no one to pay him back.
During the 2013 and 2017 elections Mt Kenya leaders were falling over themselves to assure Mr Ruto of their support in 2022.
But in March this year after the handshake, the tune changed.
In the previous week, a Kikuyu song titled Hatuna deni ya mtu (We are not indebted to anyone) circulated online. After the DP spoke his mind, the song disappeared from the airwaves.
In Kericho, a section of Jubilee leaders accused Mr Odinga of plotting to use Mr Moi to split the Kalenjin vote.
However, the leaders including Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, his Bomet counterpart Christopher Langat and Ainamoi MP Sylvanus Maritim said they were ready to fight tooth and nail to ensure the DP ascends to power.
KALENJIN VOTE
“They want to sneak in a little-known man, who rarely comes to the Senate. They will praise him and woo you to vote for him on grounds that his father has led before. Not that they love him. They only want to use him to split the Kalenjin vote in favour of a certain man from the lakeside. It’s a formula for Raila to split us, so he can go through,” said Dr Langat who was a chief guest during a prayer day at Moi Sitotwet Secondary School.
“I urge the Kalenjin to stick to this exceptionally strong-willed man called Ruto, who returned from the biggest court on earth. Other people will respect us if we stick together,” he added.
Mr Cheruiyot assured the crowd that despite the Jubilee infighting between supporters of the President and those of the DP, Mt Kenya voters will still vote for Mr Ruto.
“But you have to know that in political marriages, roles change; you could be a husband or bridegroom in this government and a wife or bride in the next.
FOOTING BILLS
“Even in Jubilee, the Kalenjin were the bride during the first term, and we got all that we asked for and our bills footed. Now we are the groom. We will be footing bills for our bride from the mountain, which is one taxing thing to do,” said the Kericho senator.
Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter has been warned against being used by “enemies’’ to frustrate Mr Ruto.
Dr Langat said it was necessary that all those with political debts, including Nyanza region, pay them in 2022 before it (non-payment) catches up with them.
“We love our neighbours, the Luo community, but let nobody lie to you that hakuna deni (there’s no debt). A promise is a debt and has to be paid. We supported you overwhelmingly in 2007, something that led our son to The Hague. We are now asking you to return the favour come 2022,” said Dr Langat.
