President William Ruto is staring at a crisis as his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta refuses to quit active politics.
Mr Kenyatta’s loyalists insist that it is President Ruto’s loyalists who have provoked the former Head of State into engaging in politics that appear to be undermining the Kenya Kwanza Alliance government.
“What do you expect Mr Kenyatta to do when the likes of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa and Budget Committee Chairman Ndindi Nyoro keep throwing brickbats at him?” asked Kirinyaga County Jubilee Party Chairman Muriithi Kang’ara.
He added that the retired President has his allies who lost in the 2022 polls and have remained loyal to him in the Jubilee Party, but President Ruto has orchestrated plots to scatter them.
According to Mr Kang’ara, the people of Mt Kenya feel cheated due to delays in the implementation of pre-election promises by the Ruto regime.
“Most importantly, this habit of Mr Gachagua believing that he can lead a smear campaign against the Kenyatta family in the Mountain to gain political prominence is a dream gone too far,” said Jubilee Party Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni. “We will not relent in our quest and desire to talk to our people and sensitise them on the fraud that ended in vote rigging in Mt Kenya region.”
Mr Kioni said “those who have a price are free to go to the political black market now living in Statehouse ... and you will be bought”.
Other allies of Mr Kenyatta allies have also warned President Ruto and Mr Gachagua to brace themselves for a titanic battle at the national level and especially in the Mt Kenya region.
Mr Raila Odinga’s point man in Mt Kenya region, Mr Kamau Mweha, said “we will not hand over the Mt Kenya symbols of authority that the Kikuyu Council of Elders bestowed on Mr Kenyatta in 2013”.
He added: “One thing we will not accept is to be left without a political party to call our own. Even if it is not Jubilee, we will build another party. We will keep the relationship with Mr Odinga for the 2027 engagement and we will sort it out.”
Former Education and Sports Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia said that by 2025, Mt Kenya will have a political identity in a solid party that will capitalise on the failures of Kenya Kwanza to liberate the country. He added that Mt Kenya is heading for political disillusionment due to power plays that have emerged among its point men and will end up segmenting the electorate.
Mr Kinuthia said the current political activities in the country spearheaded by Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta will present President Ruto a major electoral dilemma.
Former Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria said Mt Kenya needs a political saviour because “those who managed to cheat their way into power have since admitted that they did not officially agree on the developments needed in the region”.
He added that Mt Kenya hustlers are now restless over the pre-election promise to boost entrepreneurship through enabling policies.
Mr Wa Iria said that Mr Kenyatta will remain the Mt Kenya kingpin “until that day he will say he is not interested in being one”.
In the run-up to the August 2022 elections, Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria, who was tasked with coordinating the formulation of the economic charters in Mt Kenya region, said that if Dr Ruto won the presidency, there would be performance reviews every six months. As President Ruto enters his eighth month in office, hustlers are awaiting the first review meeting.
“I urge our loyalists to remain steadfast and committed to the broader cause... Let us not be dragged into petty wars that only serve to make our detractors happy. Let us now come together, examine ourselves and, with the guidance and support of the retired president, use the five years ahead of us to plan for a comeback,” he said.
