Details have emerged how powerful and influential British businessmen interrupted Uhuru Kenyatta’s itinerary in the UK to secure themselves a meeting in which they discussed with the head of state supposed looming dangers should William Ruto ascend to presidency.
According to a highly reliable source, an impromptu closed-door session only lasted for strictly 15 minutes but with deliberations that left Uhuru convinced that his estranged deputy is a marked man by the Western powers. Sources further state that the hurriedly arranged meeting with a trio of British lords and businessmen was also attended by security officers who accompanied the president to the UK. Your favourite Weekly Citizen can now authoritatively unmask Lord Antony Bowater Russel as the face behind the meeting in which Uhuru was presented with an explosive petition detailing threats that farm owners have been receiving over British owned tea farms in Nandi and Kericho counties ahead of 2022 general elections. Who is Lord Russel? William Anthony Bowater Russel is a British financier who has been serving as the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London since 2019.
Lord Antony William Bowater RusselIn view of the global disruption of public life brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Lord Mayor Russel was re-elected on September 29 2020, as mayor of London for 2021. The Lord Mayor of the City of London is the head of the City of London Corporation and is elected annually. He is the international ambassador for the UK’s financial and professional services sector. Background check reveals that Lord Russel has over 30 years experience in the financial and business city including holding senior positions in the national and international banking sector. Lord Russel is currently the chair of CDAM, a London based Asset management business and senior adviser to STJ Advisors. He was also on the board of Innovate Finance, the industry body for the UK based FinTech community. The above background clearly signifies how Lord Russel is well connected and powerful both locally and internationally. Lord Russel sounded more particular regarding an incident in 2019 where Nandi governor Stephen Sang incited residents to uproot tea stems and award themselves a plot of land.
Stephen SangAccording to the businessmen and lord, such an act was a clear red flag pointing at possible Zimbabwe-style farm repossessions that in 2001 saw thousands of white farmers in the country violently forced from land they had stolen from natives at gunpoint during colonial era. The historic seizures were meant to redress colonial-era land grabs but contributed to the country’s economic decline and ruined relations with the West. It is also said, Vodafone another British firm fears that the DP would demand shares from publicly listed firms like Safaricom. It is worth noting that this was president Daniel Moi’s modus operandi. British American Tobacco also tops in the table of the publicly listed companies operating in Kenya. The state did not take lightly action by Governor Sang led by his top county officials and surveyors in an operation to repossess land grabbed by tea multinationals in the colonial era whereby natives were shot like wild animals to clear them from the lands to pave way for the imperialist white settlers who took over the lands without spending even a cent.
Yoweri Kaguta MuseveniTo highlight the degree of a planned eviction, Governor Sang literally took matters into his hands, armed with a power saw when he led a spree that saw the cutting down of a tea plantation on the grabbed land. The British businessmen and lords who met Uhuru ahead of his session with the UK prime minister at Chequers were convinced that Governor Sang’s action had a direct blessing of Ruto. Ruto did not condemn the action by Sang. Instead, when Sang was arrested and driven to Kisumu to face criminal charges, DP allies condemned the act terming it political witch-hunt. Weekly Citizen has information that during the eviction, British High Commission in Kenya raised the burning issue with State House. The remnants of colonialists and their local lackeys attacked Governor Sang and termed his actions as economic sabotage. The vestiges of colonial rule who have continued to make trillions of shillings on the stolen land, in a bid to sway debate, cited fact that tea is the number one export in the country and such kind of actions killed a thriving Zimbabwe.
Salva Kiir MayarditSome reminded the white supremacy minority rule relics that it is no longer the colonial era when Africans were prohibited from planting tea or coffee and that today it does not have to be whites who export tea abroad. Sang’s arrest is almost two years down the line but that the issue cropped up during Uhuru Britain visit is pointer that the fear is palpable that the white farmers who live better than kings and queens abroad could have their applecart upended. Reliable sources told Weekly Citizen that Uhuru was all ears when the businessmen and lords pointed out that his deputy has a trait that most dictators in Africa have and that he needs to be checked and observed before it is too late. President Yoweri Museveni is a known dictator and the recent private visit by Ruto to Uganda raised eyebrows. During the recent campaigns for general elections in Uganda, the country’s opposition questioned Ruto’s endless trips including the campaigns, accusing him of meddling in the politics of a sovereign country.
Paul ChepkwonyUgandans however wondered what Kenyans call Uhuru’s treatment of the judiciary in Kenya if it is not dictatorship. In January 2020, Ruto flew to South Sudan, reportedly on a private business described as visiting a chicken farm in Khartoum. Imperative to note is the fact that South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir holds a grudge with Uhuru. In a recent interview with Citizen TV, resident Kiir accused Uhuru of working against him to rescue a group of politicians detained for trying to oust him in December 2013. “President Uhuru is leading his country but he thinks that by appeasing the rebels in my country, that may pay him back good,” he threatened. Kenya was one of Britain’s most lucrative colonies with tens of thousands of settlers moving into the best agricultural land mainly in Kikuyuland to grow tea, coffee and tobacco, forcing Africans into reserves and employing them as cooks, guards and gardeners. The British displaced hundreds of thousands of Kikuyus from Central, Nandis and Kispsigis families and subtribes from the Rift Valley highlands for tea plantations.
Fatou BensoudaHowever, remarks by Ruto allies have caused panic on the international front. Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony joined the fray by demanding a whooping $19 billion of reparations for land grabbed in the 1930s and even warned of a Zimbabwe-style grab if Britain fails to pay up. Leaders from Ruto’s Rift Valley backyard have been arm-twisting multinational tea firms to sell shares to locals citing an example of India where they said shares of huge tea firms were sold to the local Indian population. London based Finlays and Unilever Tea Kenya Ltd are some of the tea companies being targeted in the looming operation. When the matter took legal route, players behind the plan ostensibly through the help of Ruto, roped in British lawyer Karim Khan, a specialist in international criminal and international human rights. Khan agreed to assess its worth. Khan is well-known in Kenya for successfully defending Ruto against charges of crimes against humanity in the ICC from 2013 to 2016. In June this year, the British barrister was sworn in as new ICC chief prosecutor and started a nine-year term as top prosecutor, taking over from Gambia’s Fatou Bensouda. Uhuru flew to London to co-chair the Global Education Summit with British prime minister Boris Johnson.
The late Jomo KenyatttaThough the president would have co-chaired the summit virtually in Nairobi, the United Kingdom requested him to physically travel to London so that they could iron out issues regarding his succession plans. Uhuru however had to swallow his pride on arrival when he was subjected to demeaning Covid-19 tests. The UK administration, sources revealed, is getting unnerved by the unfolding political developments which it is closely following regarding Uhuru succession. They have studied intelligence briefs compiled by their embassy in Nairobi which indicate Ruto is a frontrunner by big distance for the race. The UK has also keenly analysed the political developments which show the president has ruled out Ruto as his ideal successor, preferring to shop for a candidate from the divided and now politically crippled National Super Alliance. The UK afraid of being caught off-guard like it happened in the 2013 general elections when the country followed United States in endorsing ODM leader Raila Odinga for the top job, only to be floored by Uhuru and Ruto, does not want to repeat the mistake. The country is now keen to study the political developments so as to endorse a winning candidate. Insiders added that Uhuru’s trip was also informed by the fact that Britain, the former colonial master, is one of Kenya’s largest trading partners with big investments in the country whose continued prosperity depend largely on the goodwill of the ruling party or coalition.
Musalia MudavadiAt the moment, there are fears in London that an unfriendly regime in Nairobi can take over or turn a blind eye if poor Kenyans whose fore parents were displaced by barbaric bloodthirsty colonialists invade lands claimed by multinationals based in London. The Hustler narrative is sending political shivers in London. The UK, reliable sources confided in us, wanted Uhuru to shed light on his succession plans and how he is going to sell his preferred candidate across the country to ensure he wins. In the runup to independence in 1963, the same then ruling whites invited Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta to Nakuru where they wanted to have their fears allayed as to what type of leadership they were to expect from Kenyatta. The rest is history. Again today, they are concerned that the deputy president can easily head to victory in next year’s polls if the bickering among his rivals – Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi – continues and so wanted to hear from Uhuru what they should expect after his rule that has taken care of them. The UK is also aware that the president’s efforts to reconcile the Nasa appear to be hitting a wall with pointers that the country is likely to have three strong presidential candidates – Ruto, Raila and Mudavadi – and chances of Ruto winning cannot be ruled out.
Boris JohnsonThe UK administration has also keenly studied the goals of the three leading presidential aspirants – Ruto, Raila and Mudavadi – and are said to be wary of a Ruto presidency for various reasons. One, they fear that Ruto’s Hustler Movement will become uncontrollable if he assumes the presidency and the repercussions will be that his longsuffering supporters might invade multinational farms in Kalenjin, Kikuyu and Kamba dominated regions, crying historical injustices. Their fears are worsened by the reality that at the moment Kalenjins and Kikuyus are leaning towards the deputy president. In 2018, there was alarm in London when a group of Kenyan citizens filed a petition at the UK senate demanding land the multinationals farm in Kericho, Bomet and Nandi revert back to the local community. For now, the UK fears that if Ruto wins the presidency, the 2018 petition will be resurrected and since the former Eldoret North MP has christened himself as a chief hustler, he will not be able to stop the citizens from occupying such lands. In the petition, the petitioners also drew the attention of the UK senate to historical injustices they suffered way back in 1907 under the hands of colonialists and continue to feel the effects of such injustices. These injustices included systematic abuse of fundamental human rights and civil rights by way of mass murder; detention without trial; economic crimes through unfair confiscation of property including cows, donkeys, goats, sheep and even dogs; imposition of internal exile and travel restrictions; forceful evictions from ancestral land approximating 25,000 acres to white settlement under soldier settlement scheme known as British East Disabled Officers’ Colony (BEADOC) in 1919 (Duder, 1980) which was later allocated to tea companies including James Finlay (trading as African Highlands Produce Co Ltd) and Brooke Bond (now Unilever Tea) and George Williamson.
Aliko DangoteIn the petition, they demanded to know whether the community was compensated; whether the multinationals pay rates to the county governments; when the leases expire and whether there is a compensation plan for the evicted families. In Mount Kenya, there has also been a tug-of-war between the county governments and multinationals over the leases. The county governments claim the leases were illegally extended to 999 years when they were due to expire. It is the fear that a candidate can take over next year and start addressing such petitions that forced UK to ask Uhuru to physically attend the meeting to address them. The UK, insiders added, has also studied Raila’s goals and the fear in London is that the ODM leader is unpredictable and more so would be helpless if he takes over and the multinational farms are invaded by squatters. Raila has been vowing to address historical injustices, a move that can put him in an awkward position if the poor, whom he has vowed to help recover their land, invade such farms. Raila during his campaigns in 2013 even threatened to lead poor Kikuyus to invade land owned by whites and Kenyatta family. The UK administration has also studied Mudavadi’s goals and though the ANC leader is likeable, their conclusion is that at the moment chances of him winning the presidential race if he faces Ruto and Raila are remote. These are the fears the president was addressed in his closed door meetings with members of the Royal Family and UK administration.
Dominic RaabIt is on the said fears, Uhuru met with Boris at Chequers at his country residence in Buckinghamshire. He was then be hosted by UK Foreign secretary Dominic Raab in an event at Mansion House, in London’s historic financial district. Insiders added that the president assured the Britons that Ruto will not be president next year, arguing he will ensure his candidate wins in the first round. Worsening matters for Ruto were claims his regime will favour Chinese investors at the expense of Western capitals. Recently, Kenyans were surprised when UDA party associated with Ruto ordered for printing of millions of campaign T-shirts from China ahead of 2022 polls. Reports indicate, friendly Ruto monied Chinese investors are behind the deal anticipating rewards once he is in power. Ruto allies are also accused of demanding kickbacks from multinationals failure to which he will cancel their leases once he assumes the presidency. Though the claims are unverified, they are given credence by revelations by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest man, that he intended to set up a cement factory in Kenya but the idea fell apart after senior politicians in Kenya frustrated the venture by demanding huge kickbacks. The Nigerian business magnate told a Tanzanian daily that when he visited Nairobi in 2014 to put up a factory, politicians led by Ruto demanded a bribe of Sh385 million before the venture kicked off. Shocked by the demand for the huge bribe, a frustrated Dangote revealed he opted to go to Ethiopia where they needed no bribes. Dangote said he was keen to invest in neighbouring Tanzania as well but the same ‘hyenas’ from Kenya followed him and he shelved the idea of investing in Tanzania or Kenya.
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