Mass exodus in the President’s backyard could puncture his succession game plan.
Blow to Uhuru as allies decamp to Ruto side
Edited by Henry Makori
In Summary
- The Star has learnt that their defection is traceable to the death of BBI, an initiative of Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga to amend the 2010 Constitution.
- Last Thursday, Jubilee and ODM officials started talks to form a 2022 pre-election coalition.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp has suffered a staggering blow after some of his staunch loyalists from his Central backyard joined DP William Ruto’s hustler nation.
The surprise switch of at least eight politicians to Tangatanga could firm up Ruto’s bid to turn the tables on Uhuru in Mt Kenya ahead of the 2022 polls.
The haemorrhage could as well puncture a move by President Uhuru and his handshake partner Raila Odinga to field a joint presidential candidate against Ruto.
Although shoved away from the ruling Jubilee Party as well as the centre of state power despite being the second in command, the DP is proving a hard nut to crack for the duo.
Exposing the President’s dwindling fortunes in his backyard, the DP yesterday bagged Kiambu Woman Representative Gathoni Wamuchomba.
The DP also on Wednesday received Nakuru Town East David Gikaria.
The unveiling of the duo came days after Ruto welcomed back Githunguri MP Gabriel Kago last Friday.
On Monday, the DP welcomed Subukia MP Samuel Gachobe as the hustler nation turned tables on Uhuru.
Gikaria and Wamuchomba were outright critics of the DP while Kago and Gichobe have been fence-sitters though leaning towards the President.
Wamuchomba’s defection is significant as she is not only the President’s Woman MP but also a heavyweight within the anti-Ruto brigade in Mt Kenya.
Wamuchomba had been one of the DP’s fiercest critics from Central Kenya and a key pillar of the Building Bridges Initiative to amend the Constitution that was halted by court.
Yesterday, Wamuchomba, who chairs the Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association, said the majority of residents of Kiambu support Ruto.
“I am following what our people are telling us. They have affirmed that they support the Deputy President and who am I not to listen to them? They have also rejected the merger of Jubilee and ODM,” she said.
Speaking hours after Ruto received her at his official residence in Karen, Wamuchomba left no doubt that the ground had shifted against Uhuru in Kiambu.
Wamuchomba had signalled her exit from Uhuru’s side after the Juja by-election in which the Jubilee candidate was whitewashed by Ruto-backed aspirant of the People’s Empowerment Party.
This even as it emerged that the desertion could be linked to Central Kenya’s perceived hostile reception of the proposed Jubilee alliance with ODM.
Last Thursday, Jubilee and ODM officials started talks to formalise the handshake pact into a 2022 political agreement to field a joint presidential candidate.
There have been concerns that some of the President’s men have been apprehensive about the proposed alliance, which they claim would vanquish their careers.
Mt Kenya politicians have since 2007 portrayed Raila as a bogeyman who must be stopped from being President and any aspirant associated with him has always been considered an outcast.
The latest defection, which could puncture the ODM-Jubilee alliance talks, comes just two months after Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok revealed that 23 governors had agreed to back Ruto’s presidential bid.
There are also signals that with the fate of the Building Bridges Initiative process uncertain, politicians have kicked off realignments ahead of next year’s general election.
In a clear indication that the President’s turf is imploding, Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, another fierce Ruto critic, termed Wamuchomba’s defection a major blow to Uhuru.
In Wamuchomba’s absence, Ngunjiri remains the only leading light in the anti-Ruto camp.
In his social media post, the founder of the anti-Ruto’s Kieleweke faction, said more heavyweights were on their way to Ruto camp.
“As things stand, I will not be surprised if we lose another one or two more valuable players. We have some heavy lifting ahead to fix our party and not everyone will want to do it,” he said.
Ngunjiri suggested that Jubilee needs to urgently put its house in order before it is reduced into a shell ahead of next year’s polls.
“For those of us who still believe in Jubilee, this is a lesson and a warning. Let’s focus on what is important as we fix the party. Then we shall stop the loss of more valuable players,” he said.
It also emerged that Ruto could be the man of the moment in the coming weeks, with his allies saying at least four other high-profile MPs will dump Uhuru. The undisclosed MPs hail from Nakuru, Laikipia, Murang’a and Nyeri.
In May last year at the height of the campaigns for the now limping BBI, three MPs from Kirinyaga county decamped from the DP’s side to join Uhuru’s bandwagon.
The MPs were Kabinga Wachira (Mwea), MP Robert Gichimu (Gichugu) and John Wambugu (Kirinyaga Central).
However, months later, Gichumu made a U-turn and followed Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata in supporting Ruto State House bid.
In April, while speaking during an interview with a local station, Ruto had said he was in talks with many politicians whom he said were waiting for the right time to cross to his Tangatanga camp.
He said most of the politicians he was in talks with feared publicly embracing him for fear of being victimised by state agencies.
His remarks came after he held talks with former Council of Governors chairman and Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya.
Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot said the defection was just but the beginning of mass exodus from the Jubilee Party. He said the era of using state agencies to force leaders to support certain causes against their will was over.
“We welcome them back to the hustler nation. We expect a stampede in the coming days. State of intimidation sell by date is fast approaching,” he said.
Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua said the move was a clear message to the anti-Ruto brigade that the DP and the hustler movement are popular and strong in Mt Kenya.
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He said it is unfortunate that Uhuru and his power brokers used state power and machinery to force his way in state affairs.
“The Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission have been misused for political end games. Now the countdown to the end of this President Uhuru regime has set in. Kenyans are looking forward to August 2022 to vote in a new government of William Ruto,” he said.
“Some of the ills that Kenyans have been subjected to will indeed be reversed and addressed. Let those in the public offices stop being misused to harass innocent Kenyans.”
The outgoing governor said most of the county bosses have been meeting the DP in secret for fear of reprisal from the Jubilee administration that has alienated Ruto.
Most of the governors and senior government officials had avoided being associated or seen near the DP for fear of state intimidation.
The governors mostly from the larger Mt Kenya, Northeastern and Rift Valley were once bold supporters of Ruto until after the handshake between Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga in March 2018.
Many of the DP’s allies in Central Kenya have slowed their activities for fear the President might unleash the state machinery on them and ruin their reelection chances.
Only a few of the DP’s key loyalists from the President’s turf have remained defiant and continued to market Ruto.
The fear of victimisation by state agencies, coupled with what was seen as fast-changing dynamics of the BBI process, had set back the hustler nation in Mt Kenya.
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