Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara has accused President William Ruto and UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar of allegedly fanning ethnic animosity ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Kihara warned that this could reignite ethnic violence that rocked the country during the 2007 post-election violence.
Addressing the Press in Naivasha, the lawmaker accused Omar of fueling the anti-Kikuyu tribal narrative that threatens national cohesion.
"President Ruto's recent remarks calling the Kikuyu community tribal were reckless as people from the Mt Kenya region elected him with over 40 per cent of votes despite him not coming from the region”, said Kihara.
She argued that the rejection of the President by the Kikuyu community was not tribal, but a response to broken election promises.
"He made commitments during the 2022 campaigns and many of those commitments remain unfulfilled and the people have every right to hold him accountable, and he cannot respond by weaponising ethnicity against them," said Kihara.
The MP dismissed claims that former President Mwai Kibaki had "introduced tribalism in government," describing them as baseless and misleading.
Kihara hit out at Mt Kenya leaders who are in government for remaining silent in the face of hate speech targeting their own community.
She said the National Cohesion and Integration Commission which was mandated to tame leaders fanning hate speech, was toothless.
Kihara said President Ruto has filled senior government and police positions with his tribesmen and had acquired public land in a questionable manner and it was time to call him out for his deeds.
"The tribal card being pushed ahead of the 2027 General Election will fail as Kenyans are more informed and they know when they are being manipulated, and they will not fall for it again," she said.
The MP claimed the recent violent fuel protests in Mt Kenya region that led to destruction of property and loss of lives were sponsored to paint a negative picture of the Kikuyu community.
She further accused President Ruto of capturing Parliament, with senior legislators allied to him forming part of the machinery spewing anti-Kikuyu rhetoric.
