Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi and politician Zaheer Jhanda have said their meeting with Deputy President William Ruto at his Sugoi home
was not political.
Maangi said Ruto invited leaders and elders from Kisii and Nyamira counties to discuss issues affecting the community.
“The meeting was not political as some leaders are saying,” he told the press at his office yesterday.
The deputy governor is a member of ODM.
Jhanda, Ruto’s ally in Kisii county, criticised opposition leaders who did not attend the meeting.
He unsuccessfully ran for Nyaribari Chache MP in 2013.
“They should have gone to listen to Ruto. He is the Deputy President of all Kenyans and not just those allied to Jubilee. We should stop petty politics,” Jhanda told the Star on the phone.
He said Ruto should be wary of some people fronting themselves as his point men in Kisii and Nyamira counties.
“Some have no backing or support in the two counties,” Jhanda said.
He said Ruto should consider making Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and Charles Nyachae, chairman of the now-defunct Constitution Implementation Commission, his point men.
“Ruto can make inroads in the region if he uses the right people to market him,” Jhanda said.
South Mugirango MP Manson Nyamweya criticised Maangi for “appointing” himself the Kisii community representative.
He said the community can present its problems to Ruto at his office in Karen, Nairobi, without having to travel to his Sugoi home.
Nyamweya said Maangi holds no political office and cannot “purport to lead a delegation on behalf of the community”.
“Everybody knows where the office of the deputy president is so those who went to his Sugoi home went there for private matters,” he said.
