- Meeting seen as a scheme by group to strengthen Chama cha Mashinani party ahead of 2022.
- But those who attended say they only discussed matters affecting Kalenjin community.
Image: FILE
Former Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto on Wednesday met a section of Rift Valley politicians opposed to Deputy President William Ruto.
The meeting is seen as a scheme by the group to strengthen Chama cha Mashinani party ahead of 2022.
Rutto and the group met at Gracia Gardens hotel in Nairobi where they are said to have discussed a range of issues facing the country and the “interest of the Kalenjin community”.
An official who attended the meeting confided to the Star the group planned activities to revamp the party in preparation for a serious scramble for support in the vote-rich Rift Valley.
Those present included Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny, Joshua Kandie (Baringo Central), Gideon Koskei (Chepalungu), Silas Tiren (Moiben), former MP Zakayo Cheruiyot and former Uasin Gishu gubernatorial aspirant Zedekiah Kiprop aka Buzeki.
It, however, remains unclear if the group is warming up to the CCM party having clearly defied the DP who still has huge influence in Kalenjin politics.
Yesterday, Kuttuny said the team dwelt on “issues affecting the community and the looming referendum”.
“The leaders who came together yesterday are like-minded. We have common issues we are championing for the sake of the community. There is a huge disconnect between wananchi and those they elected to high positions of power thinking they would come and champion their interests,” he told the Star on phone.
He said they have planned a series of meetings in the days to come to explore how to market their agenda, adding their team is not allied the anti-Ruto outfit Kieleweke.
“We are discussing the issues of tea, maize and milk farmers and the issue of the looming referendum,” he said.
Rutto, the former firebrand chairman of Council of Governors, had started warming up to the DP’s camp. Last year after showing his loyalty and allegiance to the Jubilee government, rumours swirled that he was destined for a Cabinet position.
Last November, the DP sent a powerful delegation made up of governors and MPs to meet Rutto at his rural home in Tumoi, Bomet county. The meeting was meant to cement the relationship between him and the DP.
The team was made up of Governors Jackson Mandago (Uasin Gishu), John Lonyagapuo (West Pokot), Paul Chepkwony (Kericho) and Samuel Tunai (Narok). Others were the Kericho senator and the DP’s aide Farouk Kibet.
Immediately after his defeat in the gubernatorial race by Jubilee’s Joyce Laboso, Rutto took a sabbatical from politics despite but in the last few months he has started activating his political friends especially in the populous South Rift.
He has held several consultative meetings with former MPs from Kericho and Bomet counties focusing on issues affecting the Kipsigis community.
CCM chairman David Sang who attended yesterday's meeting was hesitant to divulge details of what was discussed.
"We never planned for the meeting. We only received calls from them that they wanted to have lunch with us and welcomed them", he said.
"We have been in Nairobi presenting our views as a party to the Building Bridges Initiative and the group may have gotten an interest, hence their decision to meet us."
He said at the moment CCM is not concentrating on politics but on strengthening devolution, pushing for more funds to the counties and ensuring the the common mwananchi gets services.
Asked if they discussed on who to support in 2022 for the Presidential seat, Sang said, "We are not in politics now...the position is not vacant. We shall only discuss that when the right time comes."
The CCM chairman maintained that the meeting was purely lunch with like-minded individuals and was not in any way aimed at discussing politics but on how best issues affecting the citizenry can be tackled constitutionally "now that we have that platform through the BBI".
In an interview yesterday morning with Chamgei FM, Buzeki said he is not aligned to any political outfit, adding his philosophy is service to the community.
“I do not play politics of sycophancy so that I be embraced by some quarters at the expense of wananchi. That to me is false and cheap politics. I cannot be bought. I am godly and stand for what I say,” he said .