The timing of Deputy President William Ruto’s visit To Jubilee Headquarters with a host of MPs has triggered protests from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s allies who term the move a daring raid aimed at undermining the President.
Uhuru is in France for a state visit.
“He (Ruto) went to Jubilee Party headquarters to grab the party. It was a raid and a coup,” said Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu.
The fierce Ruto critic said the DP’s visit was a provocative step that must be seen as a direct challenge against the President.
Jubilee Vice Chair David Murathe, however, dismissed Ruto’s activities and said he was misdirecting his energies. A fierce critic of the DP, Murathe claimed that his Jubilee activities were a waste of time ‘because the horse had long bolted’.
“The DP should be interrogating matters of State in the absence of his boss. He is the principal assistant to the President and now that he is away on official duty in France, the DP should be in charge as has been the case in the past instead of holding clandestine meetings,” Murathe said.
He accused the DP of abdicating his responsibilities by skipping State functions to dish out goodies to youth, women, and persons with disabilities.
Murathe said the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) will ‘put the DP in his place and restore Kenya on its rightful path’. “That is why we are proposing in the BBI that when the president goes, the deputy goes after serving the same terms. This guy (Ruto) from 2013 to 2017 ran half of the government; he had the powerful ministries.”
But Kandara MP Alice Wahome, who was among those accompanying Ruto, dismissed Wambugu remarks, saying the DP and his allies were legally “at home” and cannot be intimidated.
“This, therefore, does not amount to a coup in the party because you cannot cause a coup in your own house or government. It would be unfortunate for anyone to call it a coup,” Wahome said.
It also emerged that part of Ruto’s strategy to take control of Jubilee would be by pushing for internal elections to install his allies at the helm.
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Addressing his allies at a boardroom on the fourth floor, Ruto warned of tough times ahead for party officials who will not want to stomach his presence.
Those officials who want to come can come… Kama hawataki waende Orange House kwa candidate wao (If they can’t cooperate let them leave for Orange House where their candidate is),” the DP said.
