• The tycoons held a meeting at Safari Park hotel on Monday night to scheme how to deal with Ruto
• Ruto's allies also held a parallel meeting at Panafric Hotel to plan a counter strategy
Image: COURTESY
Politicians and tycoons from President Uhuru Kenyatta's Mt Kenya region have teamed up to vanquish Deputy President William Ruto from the area.
Ruto seemed certain to get the region's endorsement for the presidential contest but critics accuse him of sabotaging the president’s agenda. They claim he is unfit to hold the top job.
The DP's critics under the Kieleweke umbrella, have now ganged up with influential businessmen to counter his influence in the President's backyard.
The tycoons Monday night hosted pro-Uhuru politicians from the vast region for a dinner at Safari Park Hotel and declared that the “House of Mumbi” must form the next government.
The fat cats have committed a well-oiled campaign and agreed to use the handshake to turn the tables on the DP across all Mt Kenya counties.
Image: COURTESY
The commitment came as the region gears up for a major BBI rally in Meru on Saturday where ODM leader Raila Odinga would be the main man.
"We have heard those who are saying BBI is a waste of time. If its a waste of time don't come to waste time in Kinoru. Please stay at home," Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi said.
It was an apparent warning to the Ruto brigade who have staged silent protests at BBI rallies in Kitui and Narok.
Kiraitu spoke after a meeting in Raila's Capitol Hill offices attended by all the region's political top brass.
Ruto was expected to grace the Meru meeting but Kiraitu said Raila will be the chief guest.
Most of the governors from Mount Kenya counties attended the Raila meeting.
With Kiraitu were Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga), Martin Wambora (Embu), Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua), Kiraitu Muringi (Meru) and Muthomi Njuki (Thara Nithi)
Njuki was previously a close ally of the DP.
The Safari Park meeting, the Star has established, was attended by at least five governors, over 50 current MPs and senators, and a host of ex-legislators.
The dinner was hosted by influential persons close to the powerful Mt Kenya Foundation chaired by business mogul Peter Munga.
Munga is the immediate former Equity Bank Group Chairman.
The foundation's other board members include former KRA chief Michael Waweru, insurance mogul and ex-Dagoretti MP Dennis Waweru and Mutuma Nkanata as its coordinator.
In 2016, the group led a fundraiser at Windsor Hotel that raised Sh52 million for President Uhuru Kenyatta's campaigns
The Star has established that the forum was used to rail against politicians from the region who appear to be defying Uhuru's national unity agenda manifested through the BBI.
Governors Waiguru, Kimemia, Muranga's Mwangi Wa Iria and Kiambu's James Nyoro attended.
But signalling a vicious political war for the control of the vote-rich Mt Kenya region, MPs allied to Ruto convened a parallel forum at Pacific Hotel, Nairobi, to scheme how to counter the BBI wave.
Waiguru, an influential Mt Kenya figure in the BBI campaign, declared that the push to expand the executive — opposed by Ruto camp — would benefit the region by handing Uhuru a powerful role in 2022.
“Tujipange (Let us plan) so that we don't have a time when the reign of the country will go outside the House of Mumbi,” Waiguru told the Safari Park meeting.
She spoke in her Gikuyu language in a leaked video obtained by the Star.
We have heard those who are saying BBI is a waste of time. So if its a waste of time don't come to waste time in Kinoru. Please stay at home don't come to Kinoru stadiumKiraitu Murungi
But Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua, a key ally of Ruto's Tangatanga camp, said that Mt Kenya was not interested in positions but economic empowerment of its people.
“We have been in power for almost 35 years yet our people remain poor and desperate. We want a guaranteed minimum return for our cash crops-coffee, tea, and milk,” the MP said.
The DP's camp will not be shaken, he said.
Gachagua claimed that the positions being talked about under the expanded executive will only be for “individuals and their families” and not for the community.
Waiguru told the meeting that President Uhuru Kenyatta had mooted the BBI idea to benefit the community after the next polls.
“The President had seen far but because he is the President, he could not stand up and tell you that he was looking for things for you in BBI (sic),” Waiguru said.
She declared that the region's kingpin will remain President Uhuru even after the 2022 polls.
Uhuru has remarked that he will not mind getting the position of prime minister in 2022 when he completes his two-year term in office.
The remark heightened political tensions between his and the DP's camp amid accusations that the President could be scheming with Raila to scuttle Ruto's presidential bid.
However, on Monday night and in an apparent reference to the DP's forays in Mt Kenya, Waiguru warned that those visiting “our region are just like the rain that will come and go.”
Munga, who spoke on behalf of the businessmen, said the Gema nation must speak in one voice and parry away attempts by selfish individuals to divide them.
“We would like to tell Moi's people (Rift Valley) we as the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru we have one leader called Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and he is the one who will show us the way to go,” he said.
Munga asked politicians from the Gema nation to fight for the interests of the region because the BBI will address the economic and political issues facing “our people.”
“The human being is a selfish being which means that we must put our interests before anybody's interests, but Kenya's interests first, of course,” he said.
The anti-Ruto juggernaut bringing together politicians and wealthy businessmen from Mt Kenya could jolt the DP's camp as the BBI wave gathers storm.
Yesterday's meeting at Raila's office was meant to firm up preparations for the Mt Kenya BBI rally in Kinoru Stadium in Meru on Saturday.
According to the plan, each of the counties in Mount Kenya will hold separate BBI consultative forums on Thursday to agree on their issues.
The leaders from each of the counties will then meet at Nyeri Institute on Friday to fine-tune the proposals and firm up a harmonised agenda for the region.
Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia said Mt Kenya is united under President Uhuru, the de facto leader of the region.
Kimemia, who also attended the Safari Park Hotel meeting on Monday night, said the region had agreed on a couple of economic and political issues that will be presented to the BBI rally on February 29.
The DP's allies have warned that the BBI rallies are being used to incite Kenyans against regions backing Ruto's presidential bid in 2022.
On Monday, the DP's lieutenants from the Rift Valley said they will not allow any BBI rally in Eldoret, the DP's home turf.
Analysts and politicians have warned that the BBI storm could consume Ruto and puncture his presidential ambitions.
(edited by O. Owino)