Unease in Jubilee as graft war splits UhuRuto allies

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto address Jubilee supporters at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru during his final rally on August 5,2017. Photo: Kipsang Joseph,Standard].

Tension in Jubilee Party is reaching boiling point as the crusade against corruption shapes into an all-out war.

It is now seven mega scandals and counting in less than two months and there are indications the poisonous sugar importation scam may not be the last. And as a new scandal erupts every week, accusations by Deputy President William Ruto’s political wing that they are being targeted have triggered self-cannibalisation in Jubilee as groupings go for each other’s jugular.

With his sights set on 2022, the folding of TNA and URP to form Jubilee has returned to haunt the DP who has lost leverage on most issues, lately the fight on corruption.

Carrying the bulk

So far among the Cabinet Secretaries whose ministries have been implicated in recent corruption are Sicily Kariuki (NYS), Mwangi Kiunjuri (NCPB), Charles Keter (Kenya Power, Kenya Pipeline and Ketraco) and Adan Mohamed (sugar).  

But when you break down the scandals into their line ministries, Cabinet Secretaries allied to Ruto are carrying the bulk - four scams, compared to Uhuru’s two.

Additionally, Ruto’s allies claim the government is treating CSs allied to Uhuru whose ministries are caught up in scams with cotton gloves while going hard on those from their side. Health CS Kariuki who was in charge of the Youth Affairs Ministry when money was stolen has snubbed parliamentary summons twice with no repercussions. Public Service CS Margaret Kobia has also not honoured the summons and nothing has been done to her.

So bad is the tension in the two camps that Industrialisation CS Mohamed openly contradicted Interior CS Fred Matiangi over the presence of mercury in the sugar impounded by the state. 

Adan’s contradictory statement came just a day after Majority Leader Adan Duale accused Dr Matiang’i and the Treasury CS Henry Rotich of shielding the ‘real sugar barons’ while going for chicken thieves.

Friday in President’s Kiambu backyard, Ruto said there were no political camps within the Jubilee government, attributing such talk to a plot “by some leaders to divide the Jubilee Party to attain their selfish interests.”

“There are no political camps in Jubilee as claimed by some individuals in a section of the media. As a party, we have one leader President Uhuru Kenyatta, one government and one agenda for the people of Kenya,” said Mr Ruto.

Addressing wananchi at St Joseph High School, Githunguri, Kiambu County, during celebrations to mark 60 years of education excellence, Mr Ruto said Jubilee Party was united, firm and focused in its development agenda for Kenyans.
 He was accompanied by Governor Ferdinand Waititu (Kiambu) and a host of Central Kenya leaders supportive of his 2022 presidential bid.

“We know where we came from, where we are and where we are going. We will not be deterred by individuals who want to undermine our development plans,” added Mr Ruto.

While the President has not gone for the CS’s, he has cleaned up the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and is now working on the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS).

At KRA the President last month fired the entire board including Duale’s brother Abdi Barre and Managing Director John Njiraini. Then he fired KPA Managing Director Mturi Wairi and Friday KEBS boss Charles Ongwae was arrested (see separate story).

“If we have agreed to clean Kenya, let us clean Kenya completely. Let us not clean Kenya half way. Let us not clean Kenya as it suits you,” protested the Leader of Majority in parliament On Tuesday.

No strong basis in law

In a clear case of the hunter being the hunted the fight against the importation of contraband sugar took a turn when Ruto’s allies swung the blame to the other side listing companies they accuse of being behind the scam. The list includes those owned or associated to President Kenyatta’s allies or families.

Last week, a leaked statement by former Youth Affairs Principal Secretary Lilian Omollo, showed how a push to release some payments to a company owned by Kenyatta’s uncle Gatheca Muhoho was behind her woes. Political commentators say the DP owes his political success to playing victim and it is only natural for him to blame Kenyattat’s side now that his political wing has hit turbulence.

“Even if Ruto was not vying for president in 2022 the war on corruption would still have taken a political turn,” says Prof Philip Nyinguro of the school of Political Science at the University of Nairobi (UON). “Ruto has a habit of looking for anything that makes him look like a victim. Remember in 2013 he presented himself as a victim during the ICC cases. He has also successfully sold himself as a chicken seller,” he says.

Among the red herrings in the battle within Jubilee is an executive order by the president for every government official to undergo a lifestyle audit. The manner in which the president announced the audit where he referred to the DP who was standing beside him in Mombasa as “this one” was an eye opener to their working relationship these days. The comment came just days after the president termed Ruto as a young man who likes loitering.

During their first term the president preferred referring to Ruto as “my brother William” and his recent sentiments have not gone down well with Ruto’s lieutenants. Infact Kapseret Mp Oscar Sudi has said the lifestyle audit should begin with the president’s father Jomo Kenyatta while the DP has cried foul for being targeted.

“I can see the media already has done some work on me. I expected that the next day they will do someone else, but it stopped at me only. I thought the lifestyle audit was for everybody. Hopefully it will put to rest what goes on in the rumour mill,” the DP said this week in Mombasa.

Friday Tharaka Nithi Senator, Kindiki Kithure, a Ruto ally said the lifestyle audit ordered by the president had no strong basis in law and was at best voluntary. “The audit is a noble thing but it is not anchored in the law so at best it will be voluntary. Like when the president said we take a pay cut during the last parliament it was himself and a few of us who took pay cuts,” he said.

The Senator however downplayed claims of tension within the Jubilee Party. But Nakuru West MP Samuel Arama accused Ruto’s allies of undermining President Kenyatta’s war on corruption by diverting attention.

“The politicians from Rift Valley should not try to politicize the war against graft. They should embrace the lifestyle audit just like the president and his deputy have done,” he said.
His sentiments mirrored former Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau who said there is no reason why someone should say they are being targeted unless they are guilty.

“Unless you are corrupt you should not be afraid. There is no individual who is special otherwise we would be doing a circus. 2022 is four years away and first of all who knows they will be alive then,” he said.

Caught in the middle of this perceived war between the two sides of Jubilee is the Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Hajj, Mr Matiangi and the Inspector General Joseph Boinett who are tasked with upholding the law. One of the first things President Kenyatta did when he started his second term was to consolidate the criminal justice system through an entire overhaul.

Political commentator Herman Manyora who teaches at UON says although it is true politically connected individuals have been fleecing the public, the renewed war against corruption is a fad aimed to achieve certain objectives.

“You know hyenas eat each other sometimes. I have no doubt that somebody wants to destabilize someone else because you see Ruto has been making forays across the country,” he says.

“People thought the only way to destabilise him is to throw things at him but it is a drama that is dangerous because the schemers will soon find out that they have no control. The only thing we can do right now is sit and enjoy,” he says.

- Additional reporting by Stephen Mkawale  

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