Tangatanga legislators have planned a series of countrywide prayer rallies to “pray for the full implementation of the 2013 political pact” between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto.
The rallies are organised by the pro-Ruto wing of Jubilee which has defied calls by President Kenyatta to stop premature 2022 campaigns.
According to the planning committee, the first rally is scheduled for Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium tentatively on October 6.
The committee leaders have been picked from all the counties where Jubilee enjoys good support.
Incidentally, Afraha is where Uhuru and Ruto, then leading the defunct TNA and URP, launched the 2013 pact which saw them win the presidential race.
From Nakuru, the team will pitch camp in Murang’a county followed by one at the historic Kapkatet ground in Kericho county.
From Kericho, the team will land in Ruto’s home turf of Uasin Gishu county that bore the brunt of the 2007 post-election violence. The next venue will be Kiambu county and thereafter Bungoma county in Western region.
Bungoma will be the end of what the leaders have clustered as “phase one”. After that, the organisers will “announce phase two”.
Belgut MP Nelson Koech told the Star that the rallies are “purely for the pact and to remind Kenyans what UhuRuto deal did to Kenya as far as peace is concerned”.
“This is purely an initiative of the Jubilee leaders. We all know of the post-election violence that followed the 2007 general election. The coming of Uhuru and Ruto has brought about genuine peace and unity but some people are making all efforts to take us back,” Koech said.
Uhuru is serving his second and final presidential term and as per the 2013 Jubilee agreement, Ruto should be his successor.
However, since Uhuru's handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga on March 9, last year, there has been tension and suspicion between the two Jubilee leaders and their allies.
The President has kept the country guessing on his preferred candidate in 2022 and has, in fact, said only God knows his successor.
The truce between him and Raila gave birth to the Building Bridges Initiative task force which is finalising its report. The report will be handed over to the two next month.
“We will stand for what we promised in 2013. We were clear that Uhuru will do his 10 years then Ruto will also have his 10 years and that has not changed. We will not allow the so-called handshake to bring confusion in our party affairs and plans,” Kipkelion West MP Hillary Koskei said.
The last time the President chaired a Parliamentary Group Meeting was on September 18, last year, before the passage of the controversial Finance Bill which had attracted opposition from within the ruling party.
Some Jubilee MPs have complained that the President has ignored the party since cementing his working relationship with Raila.
The prayer rallies – similar to those held for Uhuru and Ruto when they were facing charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague – will bring together members of the National Assembly, senators, governors and MCAs from at least 36 counties.
Both Uhuru and Ruto had been indicted at ICC in connection with 2007-08 post-election ethnic violence in which 1,200 people died.
The two were on opposing sides in the 2007 election - Ruto supported Raila’s presidential bid while Uhuru supported retired President Mwai Kibaki’s reelection.
The pro-handshake team dismissed the planned rallies as a waste of time. They said they will not participate.
Team Kieleweke brigade is led by nominated MP Maina Kamanda and Ngunjiri Wambugu (Nyeri Town). Other notable members are MPs Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany), Peter Mwathi (Limuru), Paul Koinange (Kiamba), Mercy Gakuya (Kasarani), Muturi Kigano (Kangema) and Maoka Maore (Igembe North).
Wambugu said the prayer rallies would not be sincere since the group organising them wants to use the events to advance their political activities.
He said organising rallies in the name of praying for the pact was an act of desperation by the Tangatanga group.
“They can no longer launch projects and use that opportunity to do politics. They are now not wanted in churches and as a result, they are looking for other platforms where they can carry on with their politics,” Wambugu said.
Kutuny, the face of anti-Ruto forces in Rift Valley, echoed Wambugu's sentiments, dismissing the prayers as not genuine.
“All they need to do is to join the President and Raila who have weaved genuine peace and are determined to unite all Kenyans,” he said.
The Tangatanga prayer rallies will be preceded by a breakfast meeting in Nairobi attended by the jubilee elected leaders and friends of the party.
Baringo North MP William Cheptumo said the meetings will cement the peace brought about by the unity of Uhuru and Ruto.
“It has got nothing to do with 2022 politics. In the wake of the political confusion we have witnessed after the handshake, we want to go out and tell our supporters how we started the Jubilee journey and where we are now,” he told the Star.
Molo MP Kimani Kuria said while the handshake has brought about tranquillity, it is temporary and will unlikely last beyond BBI report.
“For us in Molo and the larger Nakuru county, the genuine handshake we know is the one that brought Kenyatta and Ruto together. This other one is cosmetic though good at the moment,” he said.
His Kimilili counterpart Didmus Barasa, who is said to be part of the planning committee, said the entry of Raila in Jubilee government has caused confusion and suspicion.
“Jubilee was formed on a foundation of unity. We were on the right route until Raila came in on some unclear circumstances and terms.
"Now the country is no longer focused on the Jubilee development agenda and the President’s legacy but rather having to deal with the confusion that has been brought by this other handshake which we know it has nothing meaningful for Kenyans other than for selfish gains,” he told the Star.
