Why Murathe and Atwoli are new lords of politics

David Murathe (pictured) and Francis Atwoli have become the emissaries of blunt political messages that seemingly resonate with the powers that be, raising questions on who cast them in these roles in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s succession game.

After the truce between Mr Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga in March 2018, Mr Murathe began an open campaign against Deputy President William Ruto that initially appeared to be a personal mission. But it is now evident that more powerful forces are ranged against the DP, who has alleged the system was plotting his downfall.

Mr Atwoli, who also does not hide his disdain for Dr Ruto, has pressed the narrative that Uhuru is too young to retire. He has suggested that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), formed by the president and Mr Odinga, will yield constitutional reforms that would grant Uhuru another political role after 2022 when he steps down.

Lethal punch

Murathe, an eloquent political speaker who packs a lethal punch on the podium, is back in the leadership of Jubilee Party after the president reportedly declined his resignation as vice chairperson.

It is such developments that point to the clout of the former Gatanga MP who has projected himself as a key player in the Uhuru succession chess game, whose moves the president has chosen to hold close to his chest. 

Instructively, the emphasis that Murathe was still the party vice chairperson was communicated by the party’s top brass during the latest flare up of wrangles in Jubilee ignited by Ruto and his allies protesting new appointments. Murathe had cited his opposition to the DP’s presidential quest.

In the midst of the resurgent political storm after a lull brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Atwoli hosted Murathe and Raila. At their meeting, they discussed BBI and a new political alliance that the Cotu boss said will include Uhuru, Raila and Kanu leader Gideon Moi.

Yesterday, Atwoli - who joined the trade union movement in 1967 as a shop steward from where he rose through the ranks to the helm of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) - spoke out about his ties to the president and why his statements should not be taken as idle talk.

“I am very close to the president. We relate well on politics and the economy. He is the one who wrote the foreword to my book, Fame, Force and Fury. I did not tell him what to write but he did it himself. He has known me for years. I don’t talk to him daily and he might be close to some of his CSs, but we are close,” Atwoli said.

He was referring to his book launched last year in which Uhuru wrote about the daunting task historians would have capturing the life of Atwoli as “the mass of material is so immense, the field he has traversed so vast, the verdicts of his friends and foes so voluminous”.

Atwoli went on: “He is the only president who gave workers an 18 per cent increase when he came to power. He had indeed confirmed being the guest of honour during the Labour celebrations, but the coronavirus disease has complicated matters.”

He added: “I predicted that Uhuru will be here beyond 2022 and trust me, he is going nowhere. He will be here, not as a president, but in a different role. I am close to Raila and Gideon. Just like Uhuru, Raila and Gideon mean well for this country. They want to leave a lasting legacy for Kenyans.

“When you see me, you see Gideon because he is my chairman in Kanu. The moment DP Ruto accommodates in his thinking that Uhuru will be here to play a key political role after 2022, the better for him.”

What just months ago was viewed as a foregone conclusion that Uhuru will support Ruto to succeed him after serving out his two terms has now become a jigsaw puzzle that even their close allies have found difficult to crack.

And in the vicious succession battle that has ensued, Murathe has come out as the poster boy for the anti-Ruto campaign that is rapidly gaining traction within and without the Jubilee administration.

Default or design

Whether by default or design, Murathe has been leading a brigade of political players who have been sending message to the DP that he is ‘unwanted in this house’.

Despite holding no elective position, his influence has startled many as he appears to wield more power than even substantive office holders.

To his admirers, the alumni of University of Nairobi’s straight-shooting persona puts him above most of his peers in the political arena, but his critics view his utterances as vitriol that may cause more harm than good.

They see him as a gifted demagogue with particular skill in manipulating political formations at the behest of the powers that be.

Despite serving as an MP for just one term, Murathe’s abrasive political style has earned him both friends and foes in equal measure.

Those who know him say his main strength is his ability to negotiate backroom deals and read the political temperature of every situation.

His inability to discreetly carry out assignments has been viewed as his weakness.

He started the ‘Uhuru is too young to retire’ campaign, saying nothing prevented the president from entering into a political formation that would see him acquire an executive position.

“The Constitution bars him (Uhuru) from vying for the presidency after his second term but does not in any way bar him from seeking another position. As Jubilee leader, he can assume another position in a new political dispensation,” Murathe stated when he began his crusade.

Political forecasts

Uhuru and the larger Kenyatta family are said to have deep respect for Murathe’s perceptions and forecasts of political developments, and trust him in negotiating with the political forces they would rather not engage with directly.

During his only parliamentary term, he demonstrated that he could stand with the young Uhuru in every tricky political situation when he joined several other MPs to work with Kanu.

The senior-most of those was former stockbroker Ngenye Kariuki who, together with Kipipiri’s Mwangi Githiomi, eventually joined the last Cabinet under President Daniel arap Moi.

But where the rest lost the 2002 elections and faded into the background, Murathe has been by Uhuru’s side since.

Born in 1958, Murathe is the second-eldest son of a prominent wines and spirits baron and coffee farmer, the late William Gatuhi Murathe, who owned Nairobi’s famous Murathe Wines & Spirits.

The businessman died in April 2017 and Uhuru would eulogise him as an astute entrepreneur who was among the trailblazers in the 60s Africanisation programme that was meant to empower indigenous Kenyan business people by allocating them shops in Nairobi’s Biashara Street.

The family is said to own several businesses, including a high-rise property in Thika town.

Murathe lives in the upmarket Garden Estate in Nairobi and he once said his father was surprised that he appeared likely to make more money in his short political career than the businessman ever made in life.

His neighbours included the Michukis and a member of the JM Kariuki family.

Murathe went to Nairobi School, together with ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi.

He studied political science at the University of Nairobi where he reunited with his long-time friend Mr Mudavadi, and after the 1982 coup attempt, they found themselves among the university students interrogated by the Special Branch. They were released after a tense few days.

Murathe made his debut as Gatanga MP in 1997 on Charity Ngilu’s Social Democratic Party. He edged out, among others, heavyweight and Royal Media Services chairman Samuel Macharia, who was on a Kanu ticket, and Sammy Macharia, the former executive director of the Music Copyright Society of Kenya. 

A blot on his tenure at the National Assembly was when he was involved in a fist fight with the then Juja MP Stephen Ndicho inside the chambers.

In 2002, his wealthy villagemate and former buddy Peter Kenneth, who had funded Murathe’s 1997 campaign, made a go for the Gatanga seat on a Narc ticket. Murathe was running on a Kanu ticket after the independence party picked Uhuru as its presidential candidate.

Mr Kenneth won the seat, and Murathe left to work for Uhuru until the latter was appointed Finance minister in the post-2007 Kibaki-Raila coalition government.

In 2012, Murathe was instrumental in founding The National Alliance (TNA), and later, in 2016, the merger of Jubilee after which Uhuru named him the interim vice chairman.