• Uhuru strategists have roped in influential ex-lawmakers from Mt Kenya to deflate DP William Ruto's growing influence in the region.
• There is a plan to appoint more of them to the government as chairpersons and membersod strategic boards of state agencies.
Image: PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta's political strategists have tapped influential ex-lawmakers from Mt Kenya to deflate DP William Ruto's growing influence in the region.
Amid fears that Ruto's frenetic forays could whittle down the President's influence in his own backyard, there is a strategy to throw a spanner into the DP's 2022 campaign machine.
Part of the scheme is to empower former MPs — some of whom hold a grudge against Ruto for rigging them out of Jubilee primaries — as the President’s legitimate representatives in the region.The strategy is meant to neutralise pro-Ruto Tangatanga MPs in danger of losing their own seats in 2022 for going against the prevailing wind.
The details emerged just days after Uhuru made a strategic government restructuring, sacking and demoting some of Ruto’s allies.
Analysts have said the restructuring was meant to eliminate Ruto’s political footprints in the President’s "bedroom".
Most of the ex-lawmakers have been appointed to government parastatals.
Sources said many more could land government jobs before campaigning begins in earnest for and against the Building Initiative Report.
“Mt Kenya is Uhuru's bedroom and must be protected against any invasion. We will ring-fence the region for the President. Cobwebs must be swept aside,” former Tetu MP Ndung’u Gethenji told the Star.
Already, Uhuru has brought into his cabinet former Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe as Health Cabinet Secretary.
Kagwe is expected to play a major role in the Uhuru succession in Mt Kenya after the sacking of Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri who initially had been seen as Ruto’s like running mate.
Kagwe has been a pillar of the ex-legislators who have been supporting the handshake and the BBI report.
On Tuesday, President Kenyatta also announced major economic policies to improve the dwindling fortunes of coffee, tea and dairy farmers to regain a strong foothold his backyard against Ruto's forays.
Uhuru’s detractors had latched on the disgruntled Mt Kenya region farmers and their unaddressed problems to undermine the President's credibility and legacy.
On Friday former Mukweini MP Kabando wa Kabando said ex-MPs from the region will expand their networks with various cadres to push for the BBI and unity of the region under President Kenyatta.
“We are earnestly promoting Uhuru and Raila and the BBI,” Kabando said
Kabando, who chairs the Board of the Local Authorities Provident Fund, said that ultimately a political force would emerge, fashioned along the lines of the Rainbow coalition that ended Kanu's 24-year stranglehold on power.
Other MPs from the region campaigning against Ruto include former Nyandarua Senator Muriki Karue, ex-Murang'a Senator Kembi Gitura and former Maragua MP Jamleck Kamau.
Others are Joseph Gitari, Kilemi Mwiria, Njoroge Baiya, Gachara Muchiri, Ann Nyokabi, John Njoroge and George Nyanja.
But pro-Ruto MPs insist they will remain undeterred and claim the "noise" they have been making about farmers' problems is what prompted Uhuru to make wide-ranging reforms to help them.
"Had we not raised these issues, probably they would have not been addressed. Those people around the President are misguided. We will not keep quiet. We will continue making noise. The end justifies the means. We will not stop there," Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua said at a press conference in Parliament Buildings on Friday.
Most of the former MPs in the Uhuru strategy have openly denounced Ruto, saying they believe he plotted their downfall in the last polls through shambolic Jubilee party nominations.
This group of leaders has visited Opposition chief Raila Odinga and lavished him with praise, some terming him a statesman.
“I cannot see a situation where Raila is not going to run for political office in 2022. If you look at the behaviour of Raila lately, he is an elder statesman and if you ask me, he is extremely presidential,” Kagwe said in 2018. His views appear unchanged today.
The former MPs are to play a key role in marketing the Building Bridges Initiative report across the vast Mt Kenya region to outshine the sitting lawmakers and counter Ruto.
With the BBI team expected to roll out countrywide consultative meetings in the next phase of public participation, the former lawmakers have been briefed to be at the forefront of efforts and assured of facilitation.
The majority of Ruto's allies from the region were initially opposed to the BBI report but made a U-turn when the document was unveiled after it became apparent that the task force did not recommend a powerful prime minister, who could compete with a President Ruto.
“With extra effort, BBI will pass by 75 per cent in Mt Kenya region. With more effort, including an accelerated corruption purge and improving coffee and milk prices, BBI will pass by 95 per cent,” Kabando said.
On Friday, political analyst Herman Manyora said the ex-MPs might give Ruto a difficult time in Mt Kenya, given their growing friendship with Uhuru and Raila.
"Many of them are bitter and have never forgiven Ruto for rigging them out of the Jubilee nominations. They are positioning themselves to teach him a lesson," he told the Star.
However, the DP enjoys massive support across most counties from Mt Kenya.
In Murang’a, Ruto has three loyal MP who defend him in the Tangatanga group, while four MPs are under the opposing Kieleweke group, which bitterly opposes his presidential bid.
Pro-Ruto MPs in Murang’a include Alice Wahome (Kandara), Ndindi Nyoro (Kiharu) and Maragua’s Mary Waithira, while pro-Kenyatta MPs are Senator Irungu Kangata, Muturi Kigano (Kangema), Ruth Mwaniki (Kigumo) and Nduati Ngugi (Gatanga).
In Kiambu, Governor Ferdinand Waititu and MPs Kimani Ichung’wah (Kikuyu), Jonah Mburu (Lari) and Githua Wamacukuru (Kabete) are the DP’s lieutenants, while Woman Representative Gathoni Muchomba and Kiambaa MP Paul Koinange are affiliated with President Kenyatta.
In Nyeri, Governor Mutahi Kahiga, Woman Representative Rahab Mukami and Rigathi Gachagua are pro-Ruto, while Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu and Kieni MP Kanini Kega are in President Kenyatta’s camp. All the other former MPs from the county support the President.