The Rift Valley province has something that is definitely cooking that will re-shape the political landscape of the country. Either some people are plotting to bring down the others or it is just a mere witch hunt.
The heat has been brewing for a while. Not straight to face betrayal to calling of names o the top bra of the region.
The Deputy President has been the target and it seems that some people are determined to ensure that he goes down together with whoever pledges allegiance to him.
The fury came just a day after Kenya Pipeline Managing Director Joe Sang resigned in what some described as a ‘polite’ sacking by the State.
After the 2013 election, President Uhuru and Ruto shared almost half of senior government appointments. However,more than 80 per cent of the current Cabinet has been appointed by Uhuru. He has since been replacing some parastatal board members and CEOs of institutions controlled by Ruto appointees.
Multiple interviews pieced together by the Star paint a picture of a bitter community feeling betrayed by the government they laboured to instal.
Aldai MP Cornelius Serem bluntly said the Kalenjin community was being profiled and unceremoniously hounded out of office.
A number of high-flying career civil servants have been casualties of President Kenyatta’s new wave of graft crackdowns.
Yesterday the President did not mince his words. He affirmed his resolve to fight corruption in an address to a rally in Kiambu.
‘We will not relent,” he said
Despite his previous assurances that the war was not political, Rift Valley politicians have come out guns blazing, claiming their sons and daughters were being sacrificed.
The first casualty was ex-Kenyatta National Hospital CEO Lilly Koros who was kicked out for incompetence following a brain surgery mix-up at the facility.
Then the corruption purge began and claimed many more.
They include ex-Kenya Power Managing Director Ben Chumo and his successor Ken Tarus, both PhD holders hailing from the Rift Valley.
There is also disquiet that the failure to pay billions of shillings owed to maize farmers is part of a bigger plot to bring the region’s economy to its knees.
Yesterday, an MP who sought anonymity recalled how former President Mwai Kibaki engineered a massive purge in the civil service, targeting the region after he took over in 2002.
According the lawmaker, the radical surgery resulted in the strong anti-Kibaki 2007 wave that nearly vanquished PNU.
“It is totally unfair and unacceptable for the anti—graft war to take a tribal trajectory. The war on graft cannot be won by targeting any one particular community,” MP Alfa Miruka (Bomachoge Chache) told the Star yesterday
He added, “It’s no coincidence that Ruto is the Deputy President of the Republic. This was a negotiated deal that must not be sabotaged by some people who feel threatened by a Ruto presidency in 2022.”
On his part, Belgut MP Nelson Koech protested that the region was under siege and said its MPs will t seek a meeting with the President and Deputy President to articulate their concerns.
This blame game will continue as most leaders continue to complain of the witch hunt is aimed at bringing down the top people who are putting the region on a scale.
Do you think the war is going to continue?