Oburu alleges plot by Ruto allies to scuttle Handshake, BBI

ODM leader Raila Odinga’s elder brother Dr Oburu Oginga has alleged a plot by Deputy President William Ruto’s Tangatanga troops to scuttle the ''Handshake'' between the former Prime Minister and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) Member said actions and statements by Dr Ruto’s lieutenants in the wake of a petition by Senate Majority Chief Whip Irungu Kang’ata to the President over the wanting popularity of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) drive in Mount Kenya region point to a team eager to ensure the initiative is scuttled and ''Handshake'' destroyed.

Dr Ruto’s allies, led by former Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen, said they would defend Mr Kang’ata against any plans to oust him from the Senate Majority Whip position.

“If Jubilee Party leadership calls for a meeting to remove Majority Whip Hon Kang’ata, we shall attend the meeting and vehemently oppose his ejection.”

“Instead we shall remove non-party members and replace them with party members. It doesn’t matter what he did to Susan Kihika and I, we shall oppose the move,” Mr Murkomen wrote amid a push by the Kieleweke faction to strip the Murang’a senator of his Senate leadership position.

Dr Oburu said that despite the peace brought about by the deal between the President and Mr Odinga through the ''Handshake,'' their opponents were keen on killing the noble initiative.

He distanced himself from social media posts purporting that he had linked Mr Kang’ata’s letter to a plot to “short-change” the former Prime Minister in his ''Handshake'' deal with President Kenyatta.

He said that the Facebook account purportedly for ‘Oburu Odinga’ does not belong to him.

“I am Dr Oburu Oginga and not Oburu Odinga and I have never owned a social media account. The only ones I am aware of are those group accounts run by my supporters for campaign purposes,” Dr Oburu told the Nation.

The purported post by him via the account ‘Oburu Odinga’ on Monday comes in the backdrop of a storm by Mr Kang’ata’s letter.

“Hon Kang'ata, we know someone wants to short-change Raila (sic) and he is using you to communicate a message to Raila. Do not think Raila is dying for that BBI thing. We can drop it before you do it. We are not fools as you think. We've survived all waves,” it reads.

Dr Oburu, however, linked their opponents in the DP’s camp to the “mischief.”

“How desperate can someone be by seeking to scuttle the ''Handshake'' through such means? By wanting to create a non-existent crisis to cause strained relations between the President and Raila Odinga?” he asked.

The former Bondo MP urged Kenyans to ignore any posts made by the account user, adding that he would take necessary steps to ensure the culprits are brought to book.

“This is not the first time they are doing it. They have done it before and they must know their mischief no longer sells,” Dr Oburu added.

The President and Mr Odinga have been the face of the BBI since their March 9, 2018 pact.

In Mr Kang’ata’s letter dated December 30, 2020 and addressed to President Kenyatta and Jubilee Secretary-General Raphael Tuju, the communication cites the BBI challenges in Mount Kenya region.

“BBI is unpopular in Mt Kenya. For every 10 persons I surveyed, six oppose it, two support it and the other two are indifferent … if we do not take urgent measures, I will pin myself permanently in the pillar of the shame of the spectacular defeat,” reads the letter.

It is also copied to majority leaders in the Senate and National Assembly.

Mr Kang’ata cites three reasons that make BBI unpopular — it is being framed as a Jubilee factional agenda spearheaded only by the Kieleweke side; the notion that BBI will expand Parliament and claims that government supporting legislators in the region have been edged out of BBI programmes in favour of their local political competitors.

The letter also says politicians in the region who are against the BBI are employing common-people language in their campaigns while the government’s narrative is being sold by civil servants with limited political skills. The situation is being worsened by the hard economic times facing residents.

“I will cite the example of Kangema MP, Hon Muturi Kigano, who has been steadfastly supporting government since 2017. He chairs the strategic committee of Justice and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly. Notwithstanding this, his political rival is spearheading BBI in Kangema to Kigano’s exclusion. This grievance is silently brewing among MPs in the National Assembly. A number of them are ‘komerera’ (political double agents) who are bidding their time before they bolt out.”

Dr Oburu said the content of the Murang’a senator’s letter is weighty and “needs consultations and soul searching before issuing a comprehensive statement.”

“We are still consulting to see the best way to react to it. We can’t just react like that without tangible information as we may be attacking a messenger while leaving out the main culprit in the plot.”

ODM National Treasurer Timothy Bosire said “there is more than meets the eye in Kang’ata’s letter that needs keen interrogation.

“Saying that Kang’ata individually authored and used the means he used to pass the message to the public is an understatement.”

“He was a colleague in the House and he doesn’t have the courage and the capacity,” Mr Bosire said.

He said Mr Kang’ata is a lawyer who knows the consequences of “such manner of communication and understands the protocols and the procedures”.

“In somebody else I would understand. But all said and done, Kang’ata’s letter needs correct clarification from serious quarters to take it serious.”

“It is this that will make Kenyans believe that actually there is a change of mind and that the Kang’ata route is not the best way to go,” the former Kitutu Masaba MP said.