Five legislators from Bomet walked out of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s function after being denied a chance to address the crowd.
They were Ronald Tonui (Bomet Central), Brighton Yegon (Konoin), Beatrice Kones (Bomet East), Gideon Koskei (Chepalungu) and nominated Senator Alice Milgo.
The legislators had gone to receive Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto at the Bomet University College grounds but were not allowed to speak during the opening of the tuition block.
The walkout by Bomet lawmakers from a presidential function in protest against not being called to speak is seen by some in Uhuru Kenyatta’s half of Jubilee hut as part of William Ruto’s 2022 campaign team strategy to force his boss to openly declare his support for him in 2022.
DP Ruto Responds After MPs Walked Out of Meeting in Bomet https://t.co/PBEGp0VYeL pic.twitter.com/hnv17Xs8go
— KenyaGist (@kenya_gist) October 26, 2018
Insiders well versed with the working of the DP 2022 Focus Team alluded that he is increasingly getting jittery of the newfound camaraderie between Uhuru and Raila Odinga.
The Focus Team is convinced that the president is laying the groundwork to support the ODM leader in the 2022 elections at Ruto’s expense in what would be one of the most barefaced political betrayals in the digital era world over.
Insiders say the National Intelligence Service sent a brief to the president telling him of Ruto’s scheme and that is when the decision not to give the MPs a chance to address the crowd was reached.
Uhuru tour to Ruto’s stronghold was the first since the election.
Uhuru delayed his arrival in Nandi by six hours with word spreading he had decided to skip the event.
It turned out that the president had a tight schedule. After seeing off Namibia president Hage Geingob, who was the chief guest during the Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kakamega, the president also attended a service at St Andrews PCEA Church and eventually arrived in Kapsabet at 3.30pm, long after 9.00am when he was expected.
But insiders aver that Uhuru deliberately delayed going to Kapsabet to send a signal to Ruto and his allies that he would not succumb to blackmail.
The walkout by Bomet legislators has further widened the split in Jubilee with a section of leaders in Mt Kenya and Nairobi castigating them for storming out of a function attended by the president.
Word has it, after the walkout on Uhuru in Bomet, anti-Ruto faces at State House are now pushing to have Uhuru tour Luo Nyanza with Raila to counter the DP strategists. Uhuru has on several occasions postponed his Nyanza tour on ground he had not visited Rift Valley Kalenjin land to thank them for standing with him during the last presidential polls. The political ghost haunting him has gone with Nandi and Bomet visit.
MPs Ngunjiri Wambugu (Nyeri Town), Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira), Maoka Maore (Imenti North) and Nairobi senator Johnston Sakaja accused the lawmakers of blackmailing Uhuru by demanding that he talks politics “yet he has not reneged on the agreement to support Ruto in 2022”.
Insiders say Ruto camp has also been financing groups to pile pressure on the president to openly declare support for him.
On such group is the Rift Valley Council of Elders which mid this year challenged Uhuru to state whether he still supports Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid.
There are also reports that the elders had earlier held a meeting with the DP where they were each given Sh50,000 facilitation.
“We challenge Uhuru to come out clear and say whether he still supports Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid. Does he still support him or has he changed his mind?” asked Karanja Kabage.
They repeated claims by senate majority leader Kipchumba Murkomen that a powerful cartel surrounding Uhuru are out to block Ruto presidency.
State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua, former presidential adviser Nancy Gitau and Interior principal secretary Karanja Kibicho and Jubilee chairman David Murathe are said to be powerful figures bankrolling anti-Ruto forces.
The group is said to have been instrumental in the removal of proRuto faces at State House on grounds they were spying for the DP and informing him of the president’s daily diary and who to be met.
Manoah Esipisu was the last casuality of DP spies at State House when he was dropped as president’s spokesman and appointed an envoy to Britain.
Concern has also been raised about Raila’s unlimited access to State House and direct phone calls to Uhuru.
Sources say Raila even of late visits Uhuru’s private residence with Wanjigi where hard drinks flow freely to wee hours of the morning. Raila has brokered a deal where Jimmy and his father pending criminal charges are to be let off the hook by the state. Jimmy has no time for Ruto whom he accuses as having teamed up with Chinese investors immediately Jubilee won first term in power to steal lucrative infrastructure projects from firms allied to him.