•Speaker has launched scathing attacks targeting the DP, his bottom-up economics and prospect's for election in 2022.
• He's been perceived by some to be in the DP's camp but says ill intentioned people are trying to drive a wedge between him and Uhuru.
Image: BENJAMIN NYAGAH
National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi is vigorously discrediting Deputy President William Ruto to shed the UDA tag and stress his independence.
He wants to demonstrate he is his own man. His perceived association with Ruto and his UDA party have hurt his image among those he is courting.
The Speaker, who has maintained he is in the race to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta under the Democratic Party, was believed to be gravitating towards the DP’s camp.
This was after he read aloud the Deputy President’s speech at the burial of twins allegedly killed by police officers in Kianjokoma.
Suspicion of his alliance with Ruto was escalated after he took a swipe at Jubilee about the way in which party rebels were ejected from plum House jobs.
He denied the claim, saying his comments were taken out of context. He referred to unidentified troublemakers.
Muturi said they were peddling false assertions and trying to drive a wedge between him and the President, his long-time friend.
“The now carefully choreographed narrative that I am fighting President Kenyatta is the result of mischief and an evil agenda to drive a wedge between us,” he said of the claims.
“This one is among many narratives being peddled trying to portray a rift between the President and myself,” Muturi said.
He said that he in no way criticised the removal of members supporting Ruto.
Legislators were grumbling in Parliament that it was for this reason he appeared to have given UDA-allied MPs room to 'violate House rules'.
Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni once accused the Speaker of "allowing errant members to advance the UDA agenda in the chambers".
He argued the lawmakers had turned the chambers into a platform to advance the new party's agenda yet they were elected through Jubilee.
But lately, the Speaker has been trying to correct this impression. He has been launching scathing attacks targeting the DP, his bottom-up economics and prospects in 2002.
On December 4, Muturi warned Kenyans to “stop following leaders blindly. They should look at their ideas, not campaign phrases.”
He asked his supporters to be wary of the promises the DP is making in his vote-hunt, saying the DP has been in government and is responsible for some of the problems.
“Today, he approaches you, enticing you as he jokes with you, but when he will win the presidency, and you knock at his door, you will be told to wait there, please,” the speaker said in Meru.
Muturi has also disagreed with the over his call to merge small parties with UDA, the umbrella grouping.
“Please don’t make our people regret the decisions we make ahead of 2022,” Muturi said in an event attended by Ruto allies. They included Senator Mithika Linturi (Meru) and Igembe Central MP Iringo Kubai.
On Wednesday, he slammed the DP for presenting himself as a solution to the country's problems. He questioned why Ruto has not implemented the solutions for the eight years he has been DP.
“When you have been chairing the committee for the last nine years and you have not done it, what is it you are telling us?” he asked.
Muturi added that if the Deputy President was keen on helping mama mboga, boda bodas, handcart pushers and salons, he would have done it already.
“If we intend to help mama mboga, the place to do that is the IBEC. The committee has the power to allocate money to counties and specify what it should be put to,” Muturi said.
The speaker said it was time leaders stopped lying to Kenyans, further questioning the DP’s commitment to strengthening devolution.
The sentiments emanating from several meetings in Muturi's Mt Kenya East backyard and later at a meeting with youths appeared to reinforce his strategy.
Muturi’s handlers say he is positioning himself as a third force in what appears now to be a two-horse the race between ODM leader Raila Odinga and Ruto.
“The DP is his rival in the mountain (Mt Kenya).We just identified who our enemy is and we are going for his neck,” one of the Speaker’s aides said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not an authorised spokesman for the team.
Prof Peter Kagwanja, who was among the pillars of the speaker’s campaign, said Muturi is not in UDA. Kagwanja spearheaded Muturi' crowning as Mt Kenya spokesman.
“Muturi is not in UDA. In the Kianjokoma case, he was trapped by some politicians. He accepted the political blunder and was sorry,” the Murang’a senator hopeful told the Star.
“I have had a lengthy conversation with him on his future plans and I can for sure vouch that he is not having any ties with UDA, and has not had any before,” he added.
(Edited by V. Graham)