Ruto-Gachagua fallout threatens to polarise country

President William Ruto shakes hands with Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua during Madaraka Day Celebrations at Masinde Muliro Stadium in Kanduyi, Bungoma County. [PCS]

The rift between President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua could put the country in an electioneering mood, political experts have warned.

While the Head of State has remained silent over growing tension, his decision to hit at his deputy for holding divergent opinions may ruin their political partnership. Experts warn that Ruto and Gachagua’s remarks will give factions aligned to either side fodder to go against each other.

The President disagreed with his deputy on whether MPs should traverse other constituencies, maintaining that they were free to move around the country in an apparent protest to Gachagua who had demanded that Kenya Kwanza Alliance lawmakers should ‘shun political tourism.’

“Every MP is elected for his constituency you have no business roaming around the country. If you think you can be elected at Kesses, wait for the electioneering period and look for votes. What we don’t want is political tourism,” the DP said on May 26 in Uasin Gishu county where he also claimed that a section of Rift Valley MPs with proximity to President were interfering with Mt Kenya region politics.

But on Sunday, the President while addressing faithful during a church service at Amutala Stadium in Bungoma county contradicted his deputy saying Parliament was not a village but a national house and MPs can crisscross the country at their will.

“I want to encourage you as MPs to represent your constituencies effectively but to also move around Kenya so that you understand and discharge your responsibility of representation, oversight and legislation better. Your job on representation is about your constituency but the other two responsibilities are not about your constituency but about the nation of Kenya,” he said.

In yet another incident that showed there is no love lost between the two leaders, Ruto slammed Gachagua for remarks that he made in Nyandarua and Kiambu counties saying he could foresee darkness ahead, if Mt Kenya region continues being divided and accused some leaders of “plotting against the unity of the region by using youthful leaders’’.

“When I look forward, should we be divided I can see darkness, so we must protect ourselves and remain cautious so that we don’t read from the different scripts for us to be able to look for the goodies for our region and look for jobs for our young people,” the DP said in Kiambu.

However, the President publicly condemned his deputy’s remarks and asked the clergy to pray in “bid to shut such tongues that prophesied darkness and evil into the future of the country’’.

“The future of our nation is great; we are a great nation; we are a blessed country. Do not allow those who are prophesying darkness and evil in the future, our bishops should pray for such tongues to shut because this nation, and I’m speaking as the leader of this great nation, is a blessed nation and the nation is going places, we have gained respect in the African continent and the whole world, the economy of Kenya is taking shape, we are producing food in the country despite the challenges the cost of food items is cheap and I’m very confident about the future of our nation. What we need is to be united, focused and to plan properly working together,” Ruto said.

The Head of State led a section of the Cabinet and the National Assembly leadership allied to the Kenya Kwanza administration in criticising Gachagua’s call for unity in Mt Kenya region and one-man one-vote one-shilling revenue formula, terming the move as tribal balkanisation.

But the DP did not take the criticism lying down, maintaining that he would continue assisting his boss run the country but at the same time, safeguard the interests of his Mt Kenya region backyard.

“My work is to help the President lead Kenya but as I assist him, it is my duty too to be ‘eyes open’ to safeguard the interests of our community so that they don’t go wrong. And whenever you see me quite, just know things are not okay and you know when I realise things are not going on well, I will speak out,” he said at a music extravaganza in Nanyuki.

Political analysts have warned that the two leaders war of words, will polarise the country.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology don Mwangi Nganga noted that Kenya Kwanza administration will not realise its manifesto thanks to the high-octane politics between the two leaders.

“We must appreciate that both Ruto and Gachagua have a backing of foot soldiers, what the President did over the weekend was giving his lieutenants a free hand to tear Gachagua apart but the latter’s loyalists will not sit and watch, it is the ordinary Kenyans that will suffer,” Dr Nganga said.

He implored on the two leaders not to personalise their offices by going against each other and to always consult their advisors before making political pronouncements.

Multi-Media University Don Prof Gitile Naituli said the President’s remarks against Gachagua was an indication that he had marshaled his camp to launch an all-out war against him and that the two have been having differences which were confirmed by Ruto’s pronouncements.

“Their marriage was a marriage of convenience to win elections because Ruto thought if he did not pick a Kikuyu he could not have ascended to the presidency. The two only share only one quality; self-aggrandizement. They are highly transactional and that could have probably provided the basis of them colliding,” Prof Naituli said.

Prof Naituli claimed that Gachagua’s critics may not succeed because in the absence of the hustlers’ programmes as promised during the 2022 General Election, the country will go back to ethnic balkanisation in the 2027 General Election.