Allies of Deputy President William Ruto continue to pile pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve his Cabinet and fire Cabinet secretaries linked to the alleged assassination plot against the DP.
Ruto, on the other hand, maintains a studious silence despite the assassination storm tearing apart the ruling Jubilee Party.
On Friday, Ruto, alongside his family, attended the graduation of his daughter Stephanie Jepchumba, at the Strathmore University.
Casually dressed in a blue jeans and maroon T-shirt, the DP kept off the high table and sat on a plastic chair alongside other parents, depicting a relaxed demeanour.
Analysts have said Ruto is damned if he takes on President Kenyatta as this would cost him the populous Mount Kenya vote block that he has been burning the midnight oil to inherit.
But despite the DP’s relaxed mien, his allies are spitting fire and insist Uhuru has no option but to kick out CSs whom they have branded “criminals”.
“The President should just dissolve his Cabinet and reconstitute it. Those who want to engage in criminal activities will have a leeway on whether they want to join Mungiki or Sungu Sungu, then the government can deal with them at that level as criminals,” Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa told the Star.
“It’s immoral to discuss eliminating or stopping anybody if whatever that person is doing is within the purview of the Constitution. How can they say they want to stop the DP from ascending to power, yet they work in the same government?”
Barasa, a key Ruto ally, said they are not comfortable with the way DCI boss George Kinoti is going about the probe, including the invitation of Federal Bureau of Investigations detectives. “This is a very simple matter, knowing what was discussed. You do not have to summon the FBI,” Barasa said.
On Monday, Kinoti summoned four CSs, several PSs and parastatal chiefs after Ruto complained to the DCI that his murder plot was discussed at a Mount Kenya-only meeting in La Mada Hotel.
The CSs are Peter Munya (Industrialisation), Joe Mucheru (ICT), Sicily Kariuki (Health) and James Macharia (Transport). Munya has publicly admitted that the claims have poisoned the working environment in government, but State House has yet to make a comment.
“I want to agree it creates discomfort in government and poisons the environment in a way, but we have a unifier in government, the President ... and other independent institutions that also bring government to work,” Munya stated.
However, Ruto’s men say the President must crack the whip for sanity to prevail. “I can’t reconcile in my mind that in the legislature we have Kieleweke led by Kamanda, in the executive we have Kieleweke led by Munya whose obsession has nothing to do with development but all with politics,” Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot said.
“The only person who can save is none other than the President because at the end of the day, the final authority rests with him.”
The complaint is that top government officials seen to be allied to Uhuru are openly showing disdain for Ruto, the President’s principal assistant without any consequences. Ruto has previously had an altercation with Interior PS Karanja Kibicho, accusing him of working behind the scenes to puncture his presidential bid.
Senate Majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen has separately accused Kibicho of bankrolling Kieleweke and Embrace, two political groupings seen to be opposed to Ruto.
“If it’s true [he has asked DCI to investigate Ruto], eyes will not go to the DCI, intelligent Kenyans won’t look at the DCI, but all eyes will go to the President. Everybody will ask themselves, what action is the President going to do to restore the government,” Murkomen said on Thursday.
“There have been direct instructions by the Interior PS to county commissioners that they should not attend his meetings. Now you are being told there are meetings at LA Mada.”
