A Jubilee senator has urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to sack and probe Deputy President William Ruto in a new graft purge.
These remarks could set off an enormous storm within the ruling Jubilee Party, pitting Mt Kenya against Rift Valley.
Nominated Senator Paul Njoroge Ben said Uhuru cannot risk going into the next election with Ruto as his running mate, saying “Kalenjinland has other better sons who can as well be Deputy Dresident”.
According to Njoroge, Ruto and his closest allies are the architects of the Sh1.6 billion NYS heist and his public spat with ex-Devolution CS Anne Waiguru stems from her refusal to participate in the looting.
“I humbly appeal to the President, requesting him to ask his deputy to step aside as happened to his former Chief of Staff Marianne Keitany to pave way for quick investigations,” Njoroge told journalists yesterday.
“Let Uhuru understand that we cannot afford this anymore and he has to have a Plan B – and more so from Kalenjinland – and identify another leader as the investigating bodies start their work on William Ruto.”
The JP lawmaker’s sentiments are also likely to trigger a fresh storm within Ruto's URP brigade inside JP.
In a blunt personal attack on Waiguru, Ruto on Sunday accused the former CS — now a candidate for Kirinyaga governor — of subjecting the country to "cat-walking" when “it's clear public money has been lost”.
But Waiguru fought back, saying the DP’s attack on her and his public pronouncements on the NYS probe signalled there was something Ruto was uncomfortable about.
Yesterday, Njoroge said Ruto's “bitterness” with Waiguru emanated from the CS’s refusal to play ball in the looting game plan and recommended a probe of Ruto's bank accounts and those of his closest allies.
He said detectives should probe the accounts of Ruto's aide Farouk Kibet, Majority leader Aden Duale and Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen.
“We cannot continue fooling Kenyans by making them think Waiguru stole the NYS funds, yet the real thieves are enjoying the stolen funds,” the senator protested.
Waiguru has taken the NYS scandal to Ruto's doorstep and named his key allies, including Farouk, Murkomen, Duale and Treasury CS Henry Rotich, as among the perpetrators.
Njoroge also asked MPs, especially those from his Mount Kenya backyard, who allegedly pocketed Sh100 million to support the impeachment motion against Waiguru to “shut up for letting Kenyans down”.
According to the senator, NYS suspects Ben Gethi and Josephine Kabura were only used and dumped. He insisted it is Ruto who must tell Kenyans where the stolen cash went to.
In July, Njoroge backed Kiambu Governor William Kabogo's sentiments that Central Kenya will not automatically back Ruto for the Presidency in 2022.
Njoroge said a cartel of politicians operating from Ruto's office is attempting to frighten Kenyans into believing that Uhuru could lose in 2017 without Ruto's support and Kikuyus be ejected from the Rift Valley.
“We have a cartel, a group of Members of the National Assembly and even some from the Senate, who have actually been working very closely with the Deputy President. They have been instilling fear in our people in the Rift Valley and all over, telling them that if you don't vote for Ruto in 2022, he will make sure that Uhuru doesn't win in 2017,” Njoroge told the Star.
