Ruto, Gachagua unite to quell Mt Kenya rifts

By Ndung'u Gachane | 5mos ago

Following continuous political fights in Mt Kenya which have created deep rifts and factions, President William Ruto and his Deputy have moved in to try to cool the fires and keep their house in order.

The emergence of youthful legislators pushing a ‘generational transition’ where Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro is being presented as the best bet for Ruto’s running mate in 2027 and consequently as the 2032 Presidential candidate had attracted strong opposition from Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. They view Kiharu MP as a stooge planted by powerful external forces.

In bid to bring normalcy to the restive region, the President and the Deputy President this week moved to disband the factions by calling leaders elected under the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance to order.

“Let me ask all leaders that we focus our attention on the delivery of the assignment that was given to us by the people of Kenya especially those of UDA and Kenya Kwanza I want to ask them to step down any contestation for whatever positions present and future so that we can work together to deliver to the people of Kenya,” the President said.

On his part, Gachagua said "We don't want a person who divides us alongside county lines that so and so is from Murang'a while so and so is from Nyeri. We want united people so that we have a united country. In 2002 and 2007 we voted man to man to Mwai Kibaki, in 2013 and 2017 we voted for Uhuru and in 2022 we voted for Ruto. We want to remain united so that we shall vote for Ruto as a united pact.”

But even as the two leaders called their troops to order, Nyeri Senator Wahome Wamatinga was at Inooro TV on Thursday where he maintained that if Mt Kenya region had its own political vehicle, most of the unfulfilled political promises would have been actualised.

“If we would only get the cancer hospital that we were promised in Nyeri by having our political vehicle, if we would only get Karemenu and Narumoru dams in Nyeri that have remained campaign pledges since the reign of Mwai Kibaki through our regional party then that is the direction we are supposed to take as a region,” he said.

Wamatinga had even disclosed that they would demand the implementation of the promises contained in the economic blueprint documents that was birthed during the many economic forums at the campaign period.

The remarks, The Sunday Standard has learnt, angered the President, a move that informed the Deputy President to call Wamatinga to order.

Gachagua who attended a development tour in Meru alongside the President said “All UDA leaders should be careful with their utterances. I have seen some of these Senators get excited when they go on TV. They get lost and get into unnecessary issues like our Nyeri Senator today uttering useless things on TV after he became excited."

"National government programmes are handled by the president and he should have asked me about the national government programmes happening in Nyeri," he said.

Sources within President Ruto’s circles have intimated that the simmering cold war over the matter was touching the President’s nerves and as a result, a section of the leaders who have been vocal on the factions were summoned to Sagana State Lodge yesterday night.

“The emergence of political theories on who could be bankrolling Nyoro’s faction: the 1992 political situation where sibling rivalry between Mt Kenya region counties over Mwai Kibaki and Kenneth Matiba forced the President and his Deputy to intervene,” a source said.

But will the two leaders contain the already raging fire and how will the fight end, the political leaders and pundits differ on the matter with some saying with the two leaders coming in to fuel the fires, the debate will rest at that but others were sceptical.

According to Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba, the emergence of factions was not just a coincidence but ‘somebody’s political script to divide the region so that they do not speak in one voice.

“The scheme is to bankroll as many political voices so that leaders do not speak in one voice and so that they don’t agitate for their economic rights and there are no signs of stopping the political fires,” she opined.

Charles Njoroge, a political analyst said the supremacy battles would come to an end if the two leaders (Dr Ruto and Gachagua) ordered the propagators to stop the infighting.

Njoroge cited the tactics used by some leaders in Europe in the past to encourage competition between different State apparatuses that exposed part of his government to the throat of others.