- The DP's allies have claimed that the President has sponsored the cracks in Mt Kenya.
- The President is expected to tour NASA chiefs' strongholds to help them consolidate their support bases.
Image: PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta's political moves have jolted DP William Ruto's 2022 State House plans amid signals he could aggressively campaign against his deputy.
The growing cracks in Uhuru's Mt Kenya bastion and the President's strategy to consolidate Nasa has thrown Ruto back to the drawing board.
It has emerged that Uhuru is planning to embark on an aggressive tour of Nasa zones to help them firm up their strongholds in a grand plan to block Ruto.
After declaring that he prefers one of the Nasa chiefs to succeed him next year, the President's strategists have laid down a wall-to-wall plan to market Nasa.
Days after Uhuru's grand tour of ODM leader Raila Odinga's Luo Nyanza where he unveiled multi-billion-shilling projects, the President will at month end storm Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka's Ukambani turf.
During the tours, the President will launch multi-billion-shilling development projects undertaken by the national government in a bid to jolt Ruto's campaign strategy.
Stung by the President's strategy, the DP's Tangatanga camp is now crying foul over what they have termed as a systematic political scheme by Uhuru to vanquish Ruto's State House bid.
Yesterday, Ruto's allies claimed that the President has hatched a plan to ensure that he (Ruto) losses at least 30 per cent of his support in Mt Kenya.
“All the divisions we are seeing in Mt Kenya are being sponsored from State House so as to divide the DP's support in the mountain,” said Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua.
The Ruto ally from Mt Kenya asked the President to support whoever he wants in the 2022 presidential elections but challenged him not to persecute or harass Ruto's supporters.
“It is within his democratic right to support his choice but all we are asking him is that in the same principle of democracy, he should allow us to make our choices too,” the MP said.
He went on, “Mt Kenya has decided and is solidly behind William Ruto in 2022 and no amount of the machinations will change anything".
The President's allies are planning a meeting with a section of influential businessmen from Mt Kenya region on Friday. Raila and other Nasa chiefs are expected to attend that meeting.
The meeting is part of a plan to introduce Nasa to Mt Kenya tycoons.
Nasa bosses Raila Odinga (ODM), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper) and Moses Wetang'ula of Ford Kenya are expected to reunite in the coming months as they firm up 2022 plans.
There are efforts to bring One Kenya Alliance, which includes Kanu's Gideon Moi, to work with the Nasa chiefs in Uhuru's 2022 plan.
The President is expected to launch projects in the three Ukambani counties at the end of the month.
This would be seen as part of his wider scheme to prop up Kalonzo's support in Ukambani and help unite the region's key politicians.
From Ukambani, the President is planned to tour the Coast, one of Raila's dependable political bastions, in a calculated plan to fend off Ruto's fortunes in the region's six counties.
Uhuru will also move to Western Kenya with a bag of goodies in an all-out plan to turn the tables on Ruto and fortify Musalia Mudavadi's ground.
The President's 2022 succession strategists are said to be keen to have Nasa consolidate the critical Western bloc as they craft a winning formula for Opposition chiefs against Ruto.
They believe that if Nasa locks Nyanza, Coast, Western and then shares the spoils in Mt Kenya, they will form the next government.
There are concerns that Uhuru's move to declare his support for a Nasa candidate over Ruto in 2022 might work against the DP with the state machinery likely to be deployed against him.
The widening cracks in the mountain, where Ruto hoped he would record a clean sweep to romp to State House next year, might complicate his arithmetic, 13 months to the polls.
Already the East is in a bitter fallout over Uhuru's 2022 succession amid claims by Ruto's confidants that the President is behind the divisions to neutralise the DP.
A section of the President's Central Kenya backyard is pushing to field a presidential candidate in 2022 with the East bloc also propping up National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
Murang'a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria, former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo and businessman Jimi Wanjigi have hinted at going for the country's top job.
There are fears that the cracks would chip away Ruto's support in the region and complicate his March to State House.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu, a key Uhuru ally, warned that the DP's chest thumbing about his alleged support in the mountain had crumbled.
“The mountain will follow the directions given by the President. For long, some people had invaded the region but their time is up,” he said.
On Wednesday, Suna East MP Junet Mohamed asked Ruto to stop panicking even as he revealed that Nasa leaders will come together to create their 2022 political vehicle.
“Democracy is about politicians coming together. If Nasa leaders are coming together, why can't Ruto also build his team? Coming together does not mean blocking anyone from bringing their people together,” he told the star.
He said the DP should resign if he believes that the President has lost confidence in him.