Ruto should nip Gachagua, Sakaja tiff in the bud

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja. [File, Standard]

The spat between Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja could be dismissed as comical were it not for its implication.

City residents including traders and the unity of the ruling coalition are all threatened. Nairobi has for the longest time had mediocre leadership that has led to the deterioration of services and brought down the 'city in the sun' to a city in garbage.

As opposed to tenacity of post-colonial city administrations, recent city governments have done little to serve Nairobians instead of concentrating on self-aggrandizement.

It is therefore paramount that those at the helm today, must close their ears to detraction and focus on giving Nairobi a new face.

This will however only be possible when the governor and those around him remove themselves from the campaign mode and wear overalls. There will be no trophies for Sakaja for crooning about, 'jogoo wa shamba hawiki mjini'. A duel with the DP will not clean any part of Nairobi.

Sakaja won't prove anything by erecting billboards welcoming people back to the city from the Christmas break. Why spend what I believe is public funds to 'karibisha' people back to the city where most can hardly breathe? Leave billboards for special events or 2027.

Methinks, DP Gachagua is in a hurry to be recognised as Mt Kenya kingpin, whatever that means. But do the people of the mountain need a principal? They had Uhuru Kenyatta for the last decade, but what have they got to show for it? They had Jomo Kenyatta for 15 years, but even the people of Gatundu do not have much to show.

Unfortunately, in Gachagua's attempt to march to the top of the mountain, he's embarrassingly making pronouncements on issues that should be discussed and agreed upon behind closed doors.

There were complaints in the last regime that Uhuru had appointed his allies to plum government jobs but what has this regime that rode on the 'hustler' ticket done to rectify that? Is it not recycling old, rich men to positions that should be occupied by energetic, educated young people?

Those related to leaders and cronies are beneficiaries of the successive regimes and not holloi polloi. That is why attack dogs have appeared on both sides, vociferously vilifying Sakaja or Gachagua.

There have been suggestions that defenders on both sides are fighting a proxy war on behalf of their 'kingpins', their eyes trained on 2027. So where does the commoner come in? What's a kingpin to the man on the street?

This supposed war between Gachagua and Sakaja however ushers in a new dimension where those not in the ruling coalition are throwing spanners in the works.

They are salivating at the possibility of major cracks within Kenya Kwanza, which will cripple service delivery. But will President Ruto allow this? Will he nib this altercation in the bud? It all depends on his game plan.

I am not an apologist of the DP, but chasing matatus out of the CBD should be relooked. It is the poor passengers who will have to trek long distances. Remember, you campaigned on a hustlers' platform.

[email protected]