A move by William Ruto to groom Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua as his preferred running mate is eliciting disquiet in the now formidable United Democratic Alliance juggernaut. Apart from murmurs even among UDA Kikuyu supporters, those from outside Mount Kenya regions are afraid that the presidency will be shared among Kikuyus and Kalenjins since independence and this could work against them in their respective regions. They want Ruto to name a coastal or a Luhya as running mate to avoid future complications.
The name of Kwale governor Salim Mvurya features prominently. In Luhyaland, Ruto has no serious backer to land deputy president just as it is in North Eastern and Gusiiland. Signals that Ruto and Mvurya are in talks was recently seen when deputy governor Achani defected to UDA to run for Kwale county top seat on the ticket. Many say, Mvurya was well briefed of Achani’s defection plot as she is the person the governor is grooming to succeed him. The issue of picking a Kikuyu deputy has seen UDA people in Luhyaland meet resistance as it happened recently to former Kakamega senator Bonnie Khalwale during Ruto visit. Pro-UDA allies want Ruto to come up openly and tell supporters what senior political posts he has for them in his government to sell to voters.
In Ukambani, the story is the same.Already pro-Ruto MPs Victor Munyaka (Machakos Town),Nimrod Mbai (Kitui East) are at loggerheads with UDA chairman Johnson Muthama for allegedly not bargaining for the community but his personal goals. The infighting in Ukambani is ficious to an extent, Ruto is now grooming former Nairobi governor Jonathan Mueke to be his regional pointman.
Of late, Mueke has been funding UDA activities in the Eastern region as Muthama is in serious financial crisis. To complicate matters for Muthama is talk within UDA strategists that, despite being party boss, he has not delivered any seat in the two by-elections in Machakos for senatorship and recent MCA one in Makueni.Anti-Muthama forces in UDA even mock him of having been defeated by his estranged wife Agnes Kavindu in Machakos senator by-election.
MuthamaMany are questioning if it is true, Muthama used to bankroll Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka’s activities going by the way he keeps on getting handouts from Ruto. Weekly Citizen has information, Ruto’s move to favour Gachagua is the cause of the fallout of one time UDA associates Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and former Agriculture cabinet secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri. Mid this year, Kuria announced he was not going to join UDA but had settled on Chama Cha Kazi as his party.
Kuria’s troubles with Gachagua began when Peoples Empowerment Party candidate George Koimburi won Juja by-election. PEP was then associated with Kuria. Gachagua was said to be uncomfortable with Kuria’s rising political star after the Juja by-election win. To Gachagua, Kuria was lobbying to be Ruto running mate a position he was also eyeing. Reports indicate that come the Kiambaa by-election that was won by UDA by Njuguna Wanjiku, Gachagua was instrumental in having Ruto force Kuria PEP not field a candidate in the by-election.
PEP had settled on Raymond Kuria as the one to fly the party flag in Kiambaa by-election. Ruto has hinted he will select a person from Mt Kenya and even asked for time to consult and narrow down on possible candidates. His plan is to retain the voting bloc which was Jubilee bedrock in the 2013 and 2017 elections which propelled him to power with Uhuru Kenyatta.
But having fallen out with Uhuru, Ruto’s choices are thinning since many political heavyweights from the region fear associating with him. Murang’a senator Irungu Kangata, Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua were also being considered. From the Mount Kenya East, names that are being mentioned included national assembly speaker Justin Muturi and Tharaka Nithi senator Kithure Kindiki. UDA strategists, to dismiss Kuria, argue he is unreliable and there are fears he was a mole planted by the deep state to spy on the deputy president.
Kuria has also fallen out with Ruto after he refused to fold his Chama Cha Kazi to join UDA. His party has even been fielding candidates, like in Kiagu ward in Meru county thereby competing with UDA. There are also reports Kuria does not have the financial means to boost Ruto’s kitty in the presidential race, with reports suggesting he was among MPs who were getting weekly handouts from the second in command.
According to Ruto’s strategists, Kiambu, with 1.2 million voters is already in the deputy president’s arms and Kuria’s joint candidature with him will be of no value. Kiambu voters are also not excited about the presidency, having seen two of their sons hold the position.
Insiders added that Ruto’s strategists have also ruled out Kiunjuri as running mate. The former Agriculture cabinet secretary hails from Laikipia county which has 246,487 registered voters, majority of them Kikuyus.
The former CS’s major disadvantage is coming from Rift Valley, just like the deputy president and hence does not sound ideal picking him as the running mate. Ruto controls Rift Valley vote block by the fact of being the only serious presidential candidate from the region. To his handlers, Kiunjuri is hanging on Ruto political coat in Rift Valley and adds no value. The last time Kenya had president and vice president coming from the same region was in 2002 when Daniel Moi who hailed from Baringo, had George Saitoti from Kajiado as his vice president.
Another undoing for Kiunjuri is that he has ruled out folding The Service Party to join UDA, thereby irking the deputy president. The former CS, who has ancestral roots in Nyeri county also lost the Laikipia governor’s race to Nderitu Muriithi, and hence the DP’s strategists believe he is not a strong candidate.
Ruto’s strategists are convinced that majority of the 246,487 voters in Laikipia will back him regardless of whether Kiunjuri teams up with him or not. They are also alive to the likelihood of Raila Odinga picking Muriithi as his running mate. They believe Muriithi is no match for Gachagua, who hails from neighbouring Nyeri county, if picked as running mate by the DP. The second in command strategists have also ruled out Karua as the ideal running mate for Ruto.
Karua who hails from Kirinyaga county which has 349,836 registered voters has never earned the trust of the deputy president right from the time they served as ministers in the grand coalition government of Mwai Kibaki and Raila as prime minister. Karua is also known to be a no-nonsense leader who cannot sacrifice her ideals for monetary gains while in contrast the deputy president can go to bed with the devil for survival.
If Ruto deputy, she is likely to give him nightmares if he happens to win just as it is with Uhuru and Ruto presidency. Also working to Karua’s disadvantage is the fact that she is being linked to Raila, with claims she might be his running mate. But sources in her camp revealed she is preparing to challenge Anne Waiguru and Purity Ngirici for the Kirinyaga governor’s seat.
With Waiguru having joined the hustler movement, Ruto’s strategists are convinced he will bag the majority of the 349,836 votes whether Karua joins him or not. Insiders added that Ruto’s strategists have also ruled out Kang’ata as running mate. The deputy president’s strategists are worried of Peter Kenneth factor in Murang’a politics.
Kang’ata who has been quietly marketing himself and even flew to United States to open UDA offices where he represented Ruto is being knocked out for various reasons. First, he is a Johney-come-lately, having joined the UDA brigade last year. Kang’ata is also a known lone ranger who is unpopular with MPs in Murang’a. His other disadvantage is that he comes from Murang’a, just like Kenneth whom Raila is considering for running post position.
There are fears in Ruto’s camp that if he picks Kang’ata as running mate, majority of the 587,126 voters might run away, since the senator is a known miser. In Mount Kenya East, the deputy president was under pressure from local leaders to pick Muturi as his running mate in 2022 polls. Those rooting for Muturi included Mbeere North MP Muriuki Njagagua who is on record stating Mt Kenya region will fully support Ruto should he pick the speaker as his running mate.
Those backing the speaker argue that he has not been implicated in any corruption scandals and has vast experience in public service. Njagagua’s remarks have been backed by Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungw’a who noted that Embu county has faithfully supported past regimes and should be considered for the running mate position.
But Ruto’s strategists fear that if they pick Muturi as the running mate, the Kikuyu-speaking Mount Kenya West, with over 5 million voters, will flee from his camp and back one of those picked to be running mate by a formidable presidential candidate. Muturi is emerging the only serious presidential candidate from Mount Kenya and will run on Democratic Party ticket that was once associated with former president Kibaki. Another figure that was touted as a suitable running mate was Kindiki who besides being the Tharaka senator represented Ruto at The Hague where he faced crimes against humanity charges. Kindiki was among the rising political stars in the Mt Kenya region, and was even touted as a possible running mate for Ruto in 2022 after outfoxing veteran politicians in the larger Meru politics.
He had used his former position as senate majority leader and his closeness to Uhuru and Ruto to position himself as the Mt Kenya East kingpin and was set to reap from growing demands from the Meru community that Central Kenya should support one of them for the top job. But his fortunes took a turn for the worse when he was removed as the senate deputy speaker when Uhuru purged DP allies from key posts over divided loyalty. Kindiki was removed for failing to attend a Jubilee Coalition Parliamentary Group meeting
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