The art by a section of the elected leaders from Mt Kenya region hitting at the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua exposes the chameleonic nature of Kenyan politicians as most of them defended President William Ruto then Deputy in former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.
The leaders who have formed a battalion to attack Deputy President and seeking his replacement as President Ruto’s running mate while others pushing for Gachagua’s resignation hit at Uhuru for what they termed as undermining his Deputy and transferring his roles to Cabinet Secretaries and some other junior staff in the Jubilee administration.
They also accused Uhuru of isolating Ruto after the March2018 handshake with the Opposition chief Raila Odinga claiming Ruto was left out in key government planning meetings and vowing to defend him to teach Uhuru a lesson.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, who is touted as Gachagua’s possible replacement in 2027 has been crisscrossing across the country as the chief guest in church fundraisers carrying the donations of the President and flanked with the elected leaders.
And although he has never directly attacked the Deputy President, the leaders who have always accompanied him have claimed 2027 will be ‘Muranga’s time’ while others have been pushing ‘a generational card’ to present Nyoro as the best suited leader to replace Gachagua.
In Uhuru’s administration Nyoro earned fame and popularity for standing with Dr Ruto and accusing Uhuru of overseeing as his Deputy faced humiliation. On January 13,2020, the Mp said “Despite the humiliation, state harassment and isolation the Deputy has faced, God willing he will make the best President Kenya has ever had”.
“Ruto will be the greatest President that God ever created. This country belongs to all of us, not just to a handful of billionaires. Deputy President William Ruto is the principal assistant to Uhuru Kenyatta. Long gone is the era of Presidents mistreating their VPs. Uhuru must respect Ruto, he should not be misled by some imbeciles and power brokers,” he said.
However, MPs who support Nyoro believe 2027 will be Muranga’s time as the county has been taken for a ride by their sister counties; Kiambu and Nyeri counties that have produced Prime Ministers and Presidents and now Gachagua as the Deputy President.
On January this year Muranga Senator Joe Nyutu and Gatanga’s counterpart said it was time for Muranga’s recognition in the national politics saying the President may be forgiven by the electorate if he chose Nyoro as his running mate as opposed to ‘Gachagua’s divisive agenda that might negatively impact his chances in the region’.
“Mount Kenya can’t afford to be in the hands of a condescending leader who goes about disparaging leaders;’ names to higher authorities, ” Nyutu claimed. He even claimed that the running mate position should be subjected to a nomination process without the President appointing his favourite.
On his part, Muriu said “women of Murang’a also give birth to leaders, and Nyoro is qualified enough to deputize Ruto and become a leader,” Muriu affirmed saying many leaders are supporting Nyoro as a potential candidate for the position. Kirinyaga governor Ann Waiguru immediately after seeing the road to Damascus and shifting political camp from Uhuru to Ruto on March 29 2022, asked Uhuru to make peace with Ruto before he retires in bid to defuse tension in the country then.
She said the cold war between the two was bad for the country even as she accused Jubilee leaders of creating a wedge between the two leaders due to their ‘own selfish interests
“Some leaders have misled the President (Uhuru) that his Deputy is a bad man who wants to dislodge him from his seat. It was not true, instead it was ODM leader Raila Odinga who had attempted to take over the government by swearing himself after he lost the 2017 polls. Some of the politicians surrounding the President hatched plans to soil Dr Ruto’s name before the President and they succeeded,” Waiguru said in Kariti Ward in Ndia Constituency.
The very same Waiguru has now changed tone and is accusing Gachagua of personalizing the Deputy President’s office and making it look like a taboo for anyone else to nurture and express ambition to occupy them.
“Let us recognize the right of all, especially our women and our youth to aspire to high office. Let us hold their hands in mentorship on political and socioeconomic leadership. Everyone has a right to dream and pursue their dreams like those in current leadership dreamt and their dreams actualized by the support of millions of youth and women. They too, deserve support, not hostility. Hopefully we all seek the best for Kenya, she wrote in her X platform.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwa who seem to be standing on the fence in the supremacy battle in Mt Kenya region was a staunch supporter of Ruto in the former administration and on August 30 2021 faulted a section of Jubilee Party members for targeting members allied to Ruto in a bid to create ethnic divisions within the party.
“The President and his Deputy told us we could create a national party, and we believed that. Now they are saying we should kick out some people from the party so that people resort to tribal parties. I want to assure all Kenyans that we can create a new Kenya under DP Ruto’s Presidency,” the Kikuyu MP said then.
While this has been happening, leaders from Rift Valley region joined their Mt Kenya region leaders to defend Ruto with Roads Cabinet Secretary then Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen saying then “UhuRuto are conjoined twins currently facing the challenge of managing a captured opposition with us the members of Jubilee having a divergent opinion about it. There are no corners and no shortcuts. Anyone unhappy with Ruto being the Deputy President can as well quickly resign from the Jubilee government. Period.”
However, the leaders have remained silent as the divisions in Mt Kenya region continue to unfold and even the President himself is yet to pronounce himself over the wrangles.
