“You have detached yourselves from Jubilee supporters and lost touch with the ground.”

That was the message Jubilee MPs took to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy on Tuesday.

The MPs allied to the ruling coalition said they too, felt cut off from Government amid a growing perception that Uhuru and Ruto have become a lot more difficult to access after taking over. The Jubilee elected leaders told their captains that the trend, if not corrected, could cost them dearly and could even lead to defeat in 2017.

The anxious mood of the meeting was compounded by the lamentation that some Cabinet secretaries were disrespectful and arrogant towards the Jubilee MPs.

It is said the President calmed the sustained criticism, first by defending the Cabinet secretaries by saying they are not politicians and so play the game differently, and then by promising to meet them to discuss the complaints raised by the MPs.

Those who openly told the two leaders that all was not well with the movement – with a direct reference to internal wrangles, inaccessible and detached leadership coupled with complacency at the top – included MPs Zakayo Cheruiyot (Kuresoi South), Jimmy Angwenyi (Kitutu Chache North) and Mandera Senator Billow Kerrow.

Though the President and his deputy were emphatic that the MPs should not preoccupy themselves with ‘small wars’, in the end the Jubilee leaders asked The National Alliance (TNA) and United Republican Party (URP) to each pick six members and create a forum through which the MPs could engage him and his deputy.

“We received this proposal with cynicism. It was the understatement of the year. First, they promised us a three-day retreat to thrash out issues hurting Jubilee but it was not implemented,’’ revealed a source who asked not to be named so as not to be seen as betraying his bosses.

Our source in the meeting went on: “Secondly, they said they would be meeting Jubilee MPs in batches of 30 on a rotational basis but that too, has not happened. Finally, the laughable one – that we should set up a committee of 12 through which the President said we could ‘vent’ our grievances.”

Yesterday, more details emerged on the Tuesday meeting at State House, triggered by last Saturday’s rally by Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) to welcome home its leader Raila Odinga and its call for national dialogue and nationwide rallies to discuss the weighty issues facing the country.

Isolating themselves

The ruling coalition’s MPs reportedly complained that they were increasingly feeling cut off from the Government. They cautioned Uhuru and Ruto against isolating themselves and asked that the administration open up and address the discontent within the ranks.

According to sources, the 12-member committee to be constituted  would handle complaints from the ruling coalition members and raise them with the leadership.

According to an inside source, the team would be charged with settling issues raised by leaders drawn from all parties.  “It was suggested that the team would address in-house complaints made by leaders drawn from all parties affiliated to Jubilee and provide solutions in a comprehensive manner,” a URP MP who attended the talks said. The secretariat would be expected to urgently address issues raised and give feedback to stop internal bickering.

It is understood that Cheruiyot told the President and his deputy that Jubilee fortunes were in a recession in the Rift Valley, rounding off with the quote: “Kalenjins know when they are in Government and they do not have to be told. I too, have been in Government and I know when I am in one.”

He also told the two leaders they would get fewer and fewer votes in the region if the community’s grievances continued to be ignored.

Cheruiyot was earlier quoted on this paper as telling the President: “A toad does not jump around in the day unless something is after its life.”

The MP is also said to have told the coalition leaders that things on the ground were not good and that if elections were to be called now, they would not get more than 100,000 votes.

Angwenyi is said to have cautioned the President that he was now perceived as inaccessible and that some leaders were often stranded at the gates of State House because of being taken for granted.

Kerrow also reportedly warned that leadership “was not being felt on the ground” and Kenyans were wondering if they were “conned” when the pair campaigned on the platform of digital change.

The Senator warned the President and his deputy that they risked going down in history as one-term coalition leaders and the worst administration in history.

“Kerrow did not mince his words but told the President and his deputy to retrace their steps because they were neither listening to leaders nor the people who elected them,” said the source.

MPs who spoke to The Standard revealed that the President, after listening to the concerns, told the leaders to be careful not to bring down their “house” because the “real enemies were not inside but outside”.  Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Kithure Kindiki said the issues being raised by elected leaders would be ironed out within Government to allow the Executive to deliver its promises.

“It is critical that such pertinent matters be addressed within the set structures in Government. The President and his deputy had a fruitful meeting with members of the ruling alliance and I believe it would be important to allow healthy discourse regarding the performance of Government but we must do that knowing that we have a duty to serve the interests of Kenyans,” Kindiki said.

aloof cabinet

Sources explained that the MPs felt that the disconnect between the Executive and MPs was further widened by what the leaders described as an “aloof cabinet”.

Initially, the discussion on Cabinet centred on the planned impeachment motion against Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, who is in trouble over the replacement of Kiplimo Rugut with Nelson Githinji as director of the National Youth Service.

The meeting urged Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi to drop the motion but he has vowed to press on.

 “Almost every MP at the meeting had something bad to say about a Cabinet secretary,” revealed another MP.

Uhuru and Ruto reportedly explained that while Linturi was within his oversight and representation role to table the impeachment motion against Waiguru, they were concerned about the overall impact on the day-to-day work with regards to execution of executive decisions.