• Uhuru lost three by-elections in a single day, including in his own home county.
• Ruto allies say Uhuru will not influence Mt Kenya voting in 2022.
Image: PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ability to influence his 2022 succession has come under sharp scrutiny after he lost three by-elections in a single day, including in his home county.
The ruling Jubilee Party was beaten in the Juja parliamentary contest — a constituency in the President’s own Kiambu county — as well as the Rurii ward by-election in neighbouring Nyandarua county.
Both by-elections were won by new political outfits associated with Deputy President William Ruto, a man the President and his handlers have declared persona non grata in his backyard.
Critics have described the vote as a mutiny against Uhuru as he enters the lame-duck phase of his presidency.
A confident Uhuru has previously insisted he still “roars like a lion” and would not “leave the country to a thief”.
However, in the Tuesday polls, Jubilee also lost the Bonchari parliamentary by-election in Kisii county to ODM.
The Orange Party victory signalled that the 2022 polls could be a do-or-die contest between Ruto and ODM leader Raila Odinga.
The Bonchari contest had morphed into a full-blown showdown between Raila and Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i who is believed to harbour presidential ambitions.
Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua said by 2022, Uhuru will not be able to influence the direction of Mount Kenya politics.
“Ourselves and the President are not in competition. We have moved on to chart our future. The future of the region is in the hustler nation movement and we have no regrets for that,” Rigathi told the Star.
“The stage where we are, I don’t think the President whom we love and support will influence the direction of Mt Kenya and the 2022 elections. Outgoing presidents have no role in who becomes the next head of state — it is the voters.”
In Juja, the Jubilee candidate was beaten by a huge margin. George Koimburi, running on Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria’s The People’s Empowerment Party, won the tense election by 12,159 votes.
Jubilee’s Susan Waititu came a distant second with 5,746.
"From the onset, it was clear that the PEP candidate was winning and the Jubilee candidate was losing. Now the results are out and we must accept defeat. Congratulations to Hon George Koimburi and Hon Moses Kuria and the team for their spirited campaign and well-deserved win," Kiambu Woman Rep Gathoni Wamuchomba said.
She said it was time for the Jbulee Party to retreat and strategise.
In Rurii ward, Francis Muraya won by garnering 4,303 votes against Jubilee’s Peter Thinji who got 3,143.
In Bonchari, Pavel Oimeke of ODM won by 8,049 votes. Jubilee's Zebedeo Opore garnered 7,279 votes, while UDA’s Teressa Bitutu secured 6,964 votes.
Both the Juja and the Bonchari polls were tense amid claims of abuse of police powers and an open display of impunity.
IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati has, for instance, indicted Kiambu Governor James Nyoro, a close Uhuru ally, for allegedly disrupting the vote tallying process.
This forced the electoral agency to suspend tallying for nearly 10 hours.
Chebukati said he will write to DPP Nordin Haji asking him to prosecute Governor Nyoro and his team over the chaos witnessed in Juja on Tuesday night.
In five by-elections that have been held in the region recently, the Jubilee Party, a once behemoth that swept to power with super-majority MPs, has only recaptured one.
The People’s Empowerment Party, which is associated with Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, won the Gaturi ward by-election in Murang'a county in December last year.
Esther Mwihaki of PEP got 3,974 votes to defeat Jubilee’s Rosemary Wakuthie who had 3,433 votes in the tight race.
But National Assembly Deputy Minority Whip Maoka Maore said the President remains the king of the larger Mt Kenya region, dismissing the renegades as self-seekers out to mortgage the community for their own interests.
Maore who spoke to the Star on phone said if indeed the President was no longer commanding support, county assemblies from the region could not have passed the BBI overwhelmingly.
“Anyone purporting that the President has lost the grip on Mt Kenya needs to take a walk to the region. The President is respected in all the counties across the country. The people of Mt Kenya listen to him and they are waiting for him to give direction," he said.
Maore said it is time to crack the whip on the Ruto allies who are defying the President and the party position.
“If we don’t do something against these people, then we are breeding anarchy. It does not auger well for the party and leadership norms that some individuals are openly disobeying the President,” he said.
In March, Jubilee was beaten hands down in the London ward by-election in Nakuru county.
UDA’s Antony Nzuki carried the day after defeating Francis Njoroge of Jubilee with 1,707 votes against 1,385.
Jubilee, however, won Hell’s Gate ward after Virginia Wamaitha registered 3,863 votes against UDA’s Jonathan Warothe who garnered 2,766.
On Wednesday, Moses Kuria once again showed the President dust right in his home county of Kiambu.
And as if that were not enough, exactly two weeks ago, a host of senators and several members of the National Assembly from Murang’a, Kiambu , Kirinyaga, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Meru voted against the BBI Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2020.
In open defiance, the legislators tore into the BBI process, terming it non-beneficial to the people of Mt Kenya who want money in their pockets rather than a referendum.
More than 20 lawmakers from Mt Kenya opposed the Bill. They included Mathira’s Rigathi Gachagua, Nyandarua Woman Rep Faith Gitau, Ndia MP George Macharia, Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wah, Cecily Mbarire (Nominated), Mugambi Rindikiri (Buuri) and Jeffrey King'ang'i (Mbeere South).
Others were Manyatta MP John Mutunga, Moses Kirima (Imenti Central), John Paul Mwirigi (Igembe South), Patrick Munene (Chuka Igambang’ombe), Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Purity Wangui (Kirinyaga Woman Rep), Tharaka Nithi Woman MP Beatrice Nkatha, Kiharu’s Ndindi Nyoro, Nyeri Woman MP Rahab Mukami and Kandara’s Alice Wahome.
Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said Uhuru is to be blamed for the low in the party's fortunes.
Speaking to the Star, the close ally of the DP accused Uhuru for reneging on the Jubilee manifesto to pursue selfish political interest.
He said Uhuru’s deviation from the development agenda infuriated his supporters who, he said, are now tired of the Jubilee government.
“President Mwai Kibaki performed much better. Enterprises, be they small or big, grew exponentially during his regime. Now compare this government and the Kibaki administration and you can conclude why Kenyans wants Uhuru to finish his term and go,” Nyoro said.
He said, “Our people were doing business well until this government framed up smear campaigns against them in the name of contraband goods. Shops in Nairobi and other major towns were closed down and our people rendered jobless. They cannot take that lightly."
The vocal MP also pointed out that what upset supporters of the President is how he allowed “some elements to mismanage the Jubilee Party”.
He said had Uhuru respected Deputy President Ruto and the party constitution, “some of these confusions and dictatorship would not be there.”
“The President allowed his vision-less men to take over the party. Jubilee is now about kicking out party members on fabricated grounds. Jubilee is under the capture and control of both internal and external forces who thought they would frustrate our future. Now it is a shell,” Nyoro said.
“The people of Mt Kenya support DP Ruto. He committed no crime against the President. His way of doing things has never changed from the time they came together to run for office. Ruto has respected the President and his government,” he added.
(Edited by V. Graham)