In 2019 at the height of the bitter fallout in the Jubilee administration, then President Uhuru Kenyatta elevated his Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i by handing him additional roles of supervising all government projects.
Dr Matiang’i became a super minister, swaying more powers than then Deputy President William Ruto in Mr Kenyatta’s final years of his second term in office. He chaired the National Development Implementation and Communication Committee and was all over the country overseeing the implementation of Jubilee’s Big Four Agenda.
The intention was to have Dr Matiang’i overshadow Dr Ruto, who had fallen out with his boss, the President and was seen as rocking the administration from within. It was also part of the bigger scheme to manage the 2022 succession.
Five years down the line, a similar scenario appears to be playing out in the Kenya Kwanza administration.
A deliberate effort to elevate the influence of Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki has been hatched within the corridors of powers.
In the last couple of days, there has been a ringing endorsement of Prof Kindiki as the de facto spokesperson of Mt Kenya region and as its link with the President for development projects.
The perceived elevation comes after months of sustained a narrative that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is out to frustrate the administration from within. Members of Parliament, Members of County Assembly and over 2,000 Njuri Ncheke elders from the larger Mt Kenya region have all separately endorsed Prof Kindiki as the region’s point man.
“Given the prevailing state of affairs and the urgency of the mission ahead, there is a need to have a link that will create a nexus between us and the National Executive on matters of development.
“Accordingly, we, as the elected leaders from this region and its diaspora on our own behalf and that of our people, unanimously resolve that our link to the national government be the Cabinet Secretary for the Interior and National Administration, Prof Kithure Kindiki, whose responsibilities includes the coordination of national government functions across country,” declared 48 MPs in what has since been christened as Nyahuru declaration.
Some of Mr Gachagua’s allies told Nation that Dr Ruto was using the same script deployed by his predecessor to frustrate his deputy. Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru alias Mejjadonk, however, dismissed the strategy as a failed one.
“They want to use Kindiki the same way Uhuru used Matiangi to fight the deputy president. This is a script that was tried under the Jubilee administration but it failed. It will fail again,” said Mr Gathiru.
“You have seen there is already a fallout even among people who were organised to endorse Kindiki. Some of the MCAs have come out to say that they were convened for a development forum only for the agenda to be changed.”
He also accused the Njuri Ncheke of trying to turn the matter into a rivalry between Mt Kenya East and West.
But even with the ringing endorsement, Prof Kindiki has remained silent over the attempts to elevate him politically in the region as well as his influence in Dr Ruto’s administration.
On Monday while inspecting development projects in Kiambi, he said it was not time for politics but to deliver to the people.
"My work is to simply ensure every citizen is safe and secure, all national government activities are being carried out as required. Anything else is secondary. Time for politics will come and you, the citizens, will have an opportunity to make a decision," Prof Kindiki said.
Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa, a UDA MP and ally of the President, accused Mr Gachagua of relegating himself from government functions. Mr Barasa claimed that the second-in-command had become an opposition figure within the government.
“You can’t be assigned roles when your language is that of an opposition politician,” said Mr Barasa.
He noted that Prof Kindiki has remained focused on his mandate without engaging in unnecessary politics. This, he said, is different from how Dr Matiang’i played politics in undermining Dr Ruto in the Jubilee administration.
Perceived insubordination
Prof David Monda, a university lecturer and political analyst, said that in both cases, Dr Ruto and Mr Gachagua, have been perceived as insubordinating their bosses by appearing to be too big for their britches.
“Both Ruto and Gachagua as DPs were thought to see their role in the government as co-president. Something that did not sit well with their bosses. Hence, a concerted effort to cut them down to size using proxies. Both are also seen as overly ambitious in anticipation of the next election and preparing their nest for a succession battle with their bosses,” said Prof Monda.
“The difference in the contemporary context is will DP Gachagua also prepare an alternative party as an insurance policy should he be hounded out of office or made irrelevant in advancing government policy? A parachute to his political survival and determination to protect his Mt. Kenya political constituency? Or will he, like Ruto when the time is right closer to 2027, openly defy his boss and run for president or endorse an alternative to Ruto?” he posed.
Prof Monda compared the scenario to similar intrigues that played out in Malawi when the late president Mbingu wa Mutharika openly undermined his Vice President Joyce Banda when the President was aligning his brother Peter Mutharika to succeed him.
Within Mt Kenya, the installation of Prof Kindiki who comes from the minority East has also brought to the fore the political rivalry between the dominant West and the minority East made up of three counties of Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi.
The East has always lamented for receiving the short end of the stick from the West which is made up of Laikipia, Murang’a, Kiambu, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Nyandarua and Nakuru.
For successive elections, the East has always played second fiddle as the West calls a shot at major political decisions in forming governments and enjoys the largesse that comes with it.
The East has always complained of being abandoned after every election, amid perceived sidelining in development projects and plum government appointments compared to the West.
The political rivalry by the two sides has always been captured by the imagery of a bridge. They say the East has been used by the political and business elite of the West to get to government. But are immediately forgotten until after the next election.
In the lead-up to the 2022 presidential election, Mr Gachagua, who is from the West, upstaged the favourite for running mate, Prof Kindiki from the East, after confrontational talks that nearly degenerated to scuffles as the factions dug in.
The politics of East versus West was a major issue during the tenure of retired President Mwai Kibaki. Mr Kibaki is said to have received a lot of resistance and flak from the political and business elite from the west when he mainstreamed leaders from the east into his government.
Mr Francis Muthaura, from Meru, was the Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet for nearly the entire Kibaki period.
When the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed that Mr Muthaura had a case to answer in January 2012 and he stepped down, he was replaced by Mr Francis Kimemia from Nyandarua.
Mr Kiraitu Murungi and the late David Mwiraria, also from Meru, held pride of place in President Kibaki's government initially as Ministers of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Finance respectively.
But there was too much opposition to the power they wielded and eventually were suspended and returned towards the end of President Kibaki's first term clearly wounded and shadows of their earlier selves. Mr Murungi was named Energy minister, while Mr Mwiraria was appointed to the Environment docket.
They were replaced in their previous dockets by Ms Martha Karua (Justice and Constitutional Affairs) from Kirinyaga and Mr Amos Kimunya (Nyandarua) and later Mr Uhuru Kenyatta (from Kiambu) at Treasury.
Why it is important for Mt kenya region to come together
It is also said that some of the reluctance of some key politicians in the West to support Kibaki was allegedly because of "too much dalliance" with leaders from Meru, Embu and Tharaka-Nithi.
Under President William Ruto, the Mt Kenya counties and their diaspora are equally represented in government. Specifically, each of the east counties has representatives in Cabinet, among PSs and other key positions in government.
Prof Kindiki (from Tharaka-Nithi) holds the premier position of Interior and Coordination of the National Administration, while Mr Justin Muturi (Embu) is the CS Public Service and Human Capital Development and Mr Eric Muuga (Meru) is in charge of the Water and Sanitation docket.
Analysts, however, believe that the installation of CS Kindiki was more of a plot to tame Mr Gachagua, who is seen to be scheming to take away the region from President Ruto’s stranglehold.
