Uhuru backers try to put Karua in her place at Waiguru bash

Nairobi; Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta and Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua have always been on the opposite sides of the pedestal – they never see eye to eye - and a last weekend event seemed to accentuate the differences.
When Uhuru turned up for a well attended homecoming party for Devolution and Planning cabinet secretary Ann Waiguru in Gichugu last week, the symbolism of the great rivalry was obvious.
Of course, neither the president nor Ms Waiguru would directly lurch on the great lady warrior from Gichugu who fared badly in last year's presidential contest.
Brickbats were eventually, however, aimed at Karua by some of the visitors.
Former Maendeleo ya Wanawake chairlady and Trans Nzoia senator Zipporah Kittony was the bluntest saying it was unbelievable that guests had to literally wade up a slippery, mud drenched 20 kilometre earth road from Kianyaga Township to Waiguru's ancestral village of Kiamugumo near the edge of the Mt Kenya forest.
"Who would believe that this area was represented in parliament by Martha Karua, one of the most powerful cabinet ministers in the last government?" wondered Ms Kittony.
Kajiado West MP Moses ole Sakuda said the state of Kianyaga – Kiamugumo road was ironical given that Central Kenya MPs are usually drowned out in parliament in discussing infrastructure development given that their region is considered developed.
"When I was in ODM in 2005 with William Ruto (now Deputy President) and Karua was the Justice Minister, her main preoccupation was keeping us on our toes. Little did we know that she had little time for her own people hence the poor road network," said National Assembly's Leader of Majority Adan Duale.
Ms Karua later told The Standard on Sunday that those critics had been set up by her rivals specially the president who she challenged to face her directly.
"All that criticism against me is not a surprise considering the position I have taken on the referendum," the combative Karua said. "Why are they not speaking about the thousands living in abject poverty in Gatundu South which has produced two of Kenya's four presidents."
Ms Karua's admirers see her as cut from a completely different ideological block with the president who is a pedigree of the famous and wealthy Kenyatta family.
Former Nyeri town MP Wanyiri Kihoro says all blame on the current differences between the two must be blamed on the president.
"The president is very poor in reconciling with rivals," says Kihoro. "Looking at recent appointments, this is a purely a rightwing top of the range government which Martha (Karua) would have difficulties associating with."
It is the same position taken by former Subukia MP Koigi Wamwere who says the differences are accentuated by the fact that Uhuru is a prince and Karua a commoner.
"In several previous instances, Karua was expected to bow to Uhuru but she is a very proud lady. When she refused to give up her presidential bid last year, she became a rebel even in her community and lost the elections badly. She now endures the cold in her stride," said Wamwere.
Political commentator Prof Peter Kagwanja, formerly President of the African Policy Institute, says the issue between the two is basically a power rivalry in which Uhuru outwitted Karua by winning last year's elections.
"She is working with anger forgetting that Uhuru has the upper hand for now," says Prof Kagwanja adding that Uhuru's main problem could be that Karua is difficult to court as she is aggressive and combative.
During the presidential debates last year, Ms Karua harped on the land issue challenging Uhuru to explain why his family was holding vast parcels of prime real estate countrywide while millions were landless and desperately poor.
Karua and Uhuru have always been on opposite sides.
Karua entered the political scene in early 1990s as part of what was referred as the Ford's Young Turks. Then, Uhuru had not even ventured outside his family business circles.
Karua initially sided with Kenneth Matiba's faction of Ford (later Ford Asili) before settling down in Mwai Kibaki's Democratic Party (DP) and winning the Gichugu parliamentary seat in 1992 and 1997.
In 2002, Uhuru Kenyatta lost his presidential debut to National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) in whose government Karua was appointed Minister for Water by Mwai Kibaki in 2003.
In 2005 referendum, she would find herself pitted against Uhuru who had teamed up with Narc ministers such as Raila Odinga, Najib Balala, Kalonzo Musyoka and Peter Anyang Nyongo to oppose the proposed Constitution.
But in the 2007 elections, Ms Karua found herself campaigning with Uhuru for the Kibaki (Tena) reelection that would be marred by the disputed victory and followed by formation of the national unity (Mkate Nusu) government.
Against the raucous Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ruble rousers at the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) national tallying centre at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), Ms Karua had mounted a formidable solitary counter attack.
Uhuru Kenyatta's confesses in his defence at the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he had watched the results from home while former minister Kiraitu Murungi in his memoirs confesses that even president Kibaki was asleep as ruckus played out at KICC.
But surprisingly, when the national unity government was formed after weeks of talks mediated by the international community, Kibaki named Uhuru and not Karua as the Deputy Prime Minister (and Trade minister). Karua retained her Constitutional Affairs docket but was soon forced to resign by a clique that had strong links with Uhuru in the past.
Kirinyaga County Pastors Forum chairman Bishop Daniel Njagi said after the 2007 appointments Karua realized she had been short changed despite her total loyalty to Kibaki and saw Uhuru as a spoiler .
''All of us in this county were optimistic Karua would be rewarded by Kibaki having been there for him at the KICC when other PNU operatives were just watching the unfolding drama from the houses as the iron lady battled with ODM big wigs led by James Orengo,'' said Bishop Njagi.
Njagi said Kibaki should have rewarded Karua and not Uhuru.
But according to Prof Kagwanja, Karua's sense of entitlement emanated from her long history with Kibaki in DP.
"She expected to be appointed Attorney General in 2002 and DPM in 2007 but both proved elusive. She sparked rivalry with Kiraitu Murungi after 2002 and Uhuru Kenyatta after 2007 when she literally rebelled against Kibaki," says Prof Kagwanja.
Prof Kagwanja claims many Uhuru allies today largely blame Karua for engineering the ICC as an option of dealing with the post violence when she was Justice Minister.
Ms Karua, 57, (born September 22, 1957) is only four years older than the president who was born on October 26, 1961.
On July 6, 2012, during the burial of the former Head of the Civil Service and one time Gichugu MP Geoffrey Kariithi at Kimunye village, the Gichugu MP dropped guard and declined to shake the outstretched hand of Uhuru Kenyatta as Kibaki and former minister Joseph Nyaga watched. The DPM brushed off the sideshow telling mourners later that he would continue to respect "my elder sister."
Their rivalry was recently rekindled intensely when Karua indicated she wouldn't accept any appointment by the Jubilee government after her defeat last year. When she joined the launch of the Cord's Okoa Kenya campaign, it was just a matter of time before the president's side showed their disgust.