Deputy President William Ruto and Elgeyo-Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen are welcomed at Maron in Elgeyo-Marakwet County during the inspection of Chesoi-Tirap-Maron road, on May 2, 2015. The road is being tarmacked. JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Anxiety gripped the United Republican Party on Friday after a newspaper associated with President Uhuru Kenyatta ran a headline story linking his deputy William Ruto to a multi-billion shilling scandal.
While the story was the subject of a House Committee proceedings, the decision by the People Daily to lead with it raised eyebrows in Mr Ruto’s camp.
The story, suggesting that the DP may have masterminded a questionable deal amounting to Sh28 billion to build a new hospital next to Eldoret’s Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, could signal tough times ahead for the UhuRuto partnership.
And it came on the eve of the President’s visit to Mr Ruto’s Rift Valley turf and in the wake of the suspension of his deputy’s key allies in the Cabinet over corruption allegations.
Yesterday, Mr Ruto’s right hand man, Mr Kipchumba Murkomen, claimed there was a ploy to draw a wedge between his party boss and Mr Kenyatta, and portray the former as unworthy of his high position in government.
“This is another of our opponents’ tricks. They want to portray the DP as very corrupt by linking him to every scam,” Mr Murkomen told Saturday Nation.
The Elgeyo Marakwet Senator said Mr Ruto’s political detractors want to portray the Deputy President as corrupt and use his ICC case to convince Mr Kenyatta out of the Jubilee coalition deal that will see the President support Mr Ruto in 2022 for the top job.
NO TENDER AWARDED
“The detractors’ sole purpose is to divide the DP and the President in the hope that they will become running mates in 2017. They are fanning fires in Rift Valley so they can use that chance to whittle down his political muscle nationally,” said Mr Murkomen.
And Health Cabinet secretary James Macharia said in a statement to newsrooms that no tender had been awarded for the upgrade of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. “The evaluation is ongoing. No costs have been determined yet. Therefore the so-called Sh17 billion or Sh28 billion contract does not exist,” said Mr Macharia.
Speaking when he appeared before the Public Investment Committee, businessman Herbert Ojwang, an ally of Mr Raila Odinga, said the DP had trashed the Sh17 billion upgrade and instead ordered that a new hospital be constructed at a cost of Sh28 billion.
Mr Macharia said the upgrading of the hospital was a recommendation of the Presidential Task force on Parastatal Reforms.
The story came hot on the heels of a corruption purge triggered by the President which saw some of Mr Ruto’s closest allies forced to step aside. They are Marianne Kittany, the Deputy President’s chief of staff as well as Cabinet secretaries Davis Chirchir, Felix Koskei and Kazungu Kambi.
Mr Ruto’s allies are also unhappy with the latest parastatal appointments which they saw as favouring President Kenyatta’s side of the coalition. Indeed Mr Ruto last week met restive MPs from his backyard and assured them that their interests will be considered in future appointments.
But some of them now fear that Mr Ruto may no longer has the influence he enjoyed when they came to power.
Mr Kenyatta will tomorrow attend a church service in Bomet, where the DP is involved in a turf war with Governor Isaac Ruto.
LARGEST VOTING BLOC
President Kenyatta’s visit — to raise funds for the regional headquarters of the Africa Gospel Church — comes amidst growing dissent led by the two Kipsigis governors — Bomet’s Ruto and his Kericho counterpart Paul Chepkwony—who have been consistent in their criticism and portrayal of the DP as anti-devolution.
Kipsigis is the largest voting bloc in the Rift Valley, accounting for more than half of the entire Kalenjin grouping.
The resurgence of Kanu and the propping up of its chairman and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi for the top job is another of the DP’s political headaches, with some of Mr Ruto’s allies intimating that they were unsure that the increased political activity did not have the blessings of the President’s men.
There is also increasing feeling from the region that the DP failed to give the region the 50-50 bargain in government, the other bigger reason that analysts say fuels the disgruntlement.
Mau forest evictions, the dwindling fortunes of maize farmers in the country’s bread basket, the unending woes of tea farmers with the fall of prices and bonuses are just some of the challenges the region now faces.
Mr Murkomen blamed Mr Ruto’s woes on Cord leader Raila Odinga saying “Tinga is so desperate that he might agree to become Uhuru’s running mate in 2017. That is why, he has been very desperate to show himself to be close with the President. We know his game and we will counter him.”
This was in apparent reference that the man who made the claims against the Deputy President before PIC is an ally of Mr Odinga.
But Kuresoi South MP Zakayo Cheruiyot insisted Mr Ruto was to blame for his own woes.
TRACK HIS MISSED STEPS
“What has been happening around the DP shows that he has become bystander in government. Mr Ruto is no longer an equal partner we hoped to have when we voted in 2013. He should read the signs around him. From the corruption list, and the hurried formation of JAP, he should track his missed steps in the government,” the MP said.
The visit to the South Rift by the president is coming against the backdrop of disquiet in the North Rift over the recent parastatal appointments which some leaders say favoured South Rift.
They accused Kericho senator Charles Keter of using his closeness to the President and the DP to favour his South Rift backyard.
Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago, Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and Nandi Women Representative Zipporah Kering also blamed Mr Keter for the discontent being witnessed in the URP.
But Mr Keter has dismissed the charge, saying the President was the appointing authority.
“The president should rest assured that everything is okay. I do not think that Bomet people can go as low as to fail to accord him a proper welcome because of that issue,” he said.
He spoke even was it emerged that hundreds of police officers had been posted to Bomet town to boost security and ensure that everything runs smoothly.
The senator distanced himself from allegations that he was behind the expulsion of nominated MCAs who political pundits feel are being punished for protecting the governor from impeachment.
“The decision was made by the URP National Executive Council of which I am not a member. I have no control over NEC and I learnt of its decision through the media just like any other Kenyan.
The allegation that I was behind the move is preposterous at the least,” he said.
Political analysts think that while President Kenyatta is apparently going to Bomet to shore up his deputy’s political fortunes, it was a double-edged sword as the occasion will hand him the opportunity to stamp his authority in Mr Ruto’s own turf.
“Governor Ruto seems keen to show that his disgruntlement and anger is towards the DP and not the President. For a man who needs to show that he can still bring the many votes he did in 2013, this is problematic for (William) Ruto,” said Dr Adams Oloo of the University of Nairobi’s School of Political Science.
Governor Ruto has told Bomet residents to turn out in large numbers to receive the President and urged politicians not to bring up the hot topics of the moment such as the expulsion of the MCAs allied to him.
Reports by Patrick Lang’at, Geoffrey Rono, Barnabas Bii and Timothy Kemei
CREDIT: NMG
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