• Uhuru is using his newly-found camaraderie with ODM leader Raila to elbow out Ruto from the region where Ruto has made significant inroads.
• Ruto held a highly secretive meeting with grassroots leaders in Taita Taveta county as he seeks to secure the gains he had made.
Image: FILE
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are engaged in a political tussle for the Coast region.
Uhuru is using his newly-found camaraderie with ODM leader Raila Odinga to elbow out Ruto from the region where Ruto has made significant inroads.
However, the DP is putting up a fight.
On Friday, he held a highly secretive meeting with grassroots leaders in Taita Taveta county as he seeks to secure the gains he had made.
Sources say the meeting, held at the Lumo Sanctuary in Taveta constituency, lasted about seven hours with no phones allowed.
This was about the same time Uhuru–accompanied by Raila allies Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed–and his most trusted CS Fred Matiang’i held a meeting with top regional security chiefs from across the country at State House Mombasa.
Last Tuesday, Uhuru fired Ruto's ally Mwangi Kiunjuri as Agriculture CS and replaced him with Peter Munya – the surest sign yet that things are no longer rosy for the once dynamic duo.
This is meant to whittle down Ruto’s growing influence in Uhuru’s backyard.
The same strategy could be used to negate the efforts Ruto has made at the Coast.
According to a source close to Joho, there are plans to either approach Ruto’s strongest allies at the Coast and try and poach them to the other side or isolate them into political oblivion.
The top target is ODM renegade Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa.
She is the most vocal supporter of Ruto still standing strong as others take a step back to rethink their political careers.
“Right now there is a big plot against Jumwa that will surely finish her politically if she continues her hard stance,” a close Joho ally told the Star on Saturday.
She has ambitions to become the first woman governor at the Coast in 2022.
At one point during his forays into the Coast, Ruto had roped in as many as 15 MPs most of whom have, however, gone silent.
Top among them is Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo, who has since become neutral only supporting or opposing issues that directly affect the common mwananchi, no matter which side Ruto supports.
Political analysts say Mbogo is playing it neutral because he wants Joho’s blessings in his quest to succeed him as governor in 2022.
This is what the Uhuru-Raila schemers at the Coast are using to cut most of the Ruto backers to size.
The schemers want to use the BBI to deliver a blow to Ruto at the Coast.
They want to portray Ruto as anti-development who still wants his Kalenjin community to lead the country.
The BBI backers say the initiative will also give the smaller communities, like the Mijikenda, a chance to lead the country.
Ruto has however formed a shield against this.
On Friday, the DP met Taita Taveta MCAs drawn from different political parties including ODM, Jubilee, Wiper and Ford-Kenya at the Lumo Sanctuary.
The meeting discussed among other things the BBI, which Ruto said should be taken with a lot of caution.
According to former Taita Taveta Governor John Mruttu who attended the meeting, Ruto wants grassroots people to read and understand, and give their opinions to the BBI team, after the extension of the period for views collection.
“His message was simple - all should give their views and there are no superior views. All views are equal and should be respected,” Mruttu said.
Taita Taveta Woman Representative Lydia Haika, Taveta MP Naomi Shaban and former Taita Taveta Woman Representative Joyce Lay also attended the meeting.
There are fears among the Uhuru-Raila allies at the Coast that the clamour about last Tuesday’s Cabinet reshuffle could haunt them.
Leaders in the region including Jumwa, Umoja Summit Party of Kenya chair Matano Chengo, Kilifi North MP Owen Baya, among others said the reshuffle was a clear indication the region is sidelined.
They said the BBI is meant to promote inclusivity and unity 'but the sidelining of the Coast region shows otherwise'.
This is the headache that Joho, who has been marshalling support for the BBI, has to deal with.
He has been tasked to ensure the whole region backs the initiative.
Joho said the region has to support the BBI for it to benefit from the country’s leadership and resources.
“The most important thing is that this time around, we move together. We should forget about political parties and an individual. Let’s concentrate on how our region will be counted,” the governor said.
However, Chengo, the USPK chair, said this will only work if there are tangible things that the region can boast of as a fruit of its support for the BBI.
“What we are seeing and what we are being told are different. Unless this is rectified, the BBI issue will not work here,” Chengo told the Star on the phone.
“We don’t care who is fighting who. What we care about is the wellbeing of our people. The rest can sort themselves out,” he said.
Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire said the BBI was meant to unite the country and it should achieve exactly that.
“The government can do better with appointments to government. Our people need to feel part of the national cake beneficiaries,” Mwambire said on phone.
Edited by R.Wamochie