Political wild cards play out in the fight for Jubilee Party soul

DP WIlliam Ruto with Kinangop MP Kwenya Thuku and Ol Jororok’s Michael Muchira during a harambee in Nyandarua County yesterday. [DPPS]

With 36 months to the 2022 polls, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are finding themselves in unchartered waters.

Uhuru and Ruto, who first met politically in the Eighth Parliament, have now reached a defining moment as their interests split after two decades of political camaraderie.

To navigate the tricky political limbo of the succession politicsthey find themselves in, the duo has now separately put together think-tanks that are keenly following trail of events with an intention of influencing outcomes.

While Uhuru is keen on a successful completion of a two-term presidency with a legacy to secure, Ruto seems to have kept his eyes on the ball that is the 2022 presidency.

On Wednesday, Uhuru -- for the first time --  said he did not care who becomes President after him.

“It is only God who knows who will be elected and therefore time to work,” he said during the funeral of Rahab Muhuni, the mother of former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth.

With divergent pursuits for the ‘dynamic duo’ and the need to control succession interests, several groups have sprung out of Jubilee and are now privately meeting in residences and hotels across the city.

Sources say Uhuru’s teams involved in his election in 2013 and re-election in 2017 have regrouped. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday at various places to keenly follow politicalevents.

The teams, one coordinated by former presidential advisor Nancy Gitau and the other by Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, are “sensitive to anything that depicts the President negatively”, according to a source privy to their operations.

War on graft

Although the small clique of sitting and former politicians, communication and political experts hold their meetings in private, their recommendations are always shared with State House.

Their perceived rivals under the Deputy President are larger in numbers and have been broken down into four groups to oversee different functions. 

The Tanga Tanga group, which brings together several National Assembly and Senate members, is the main face of the Ruto teams. It recently got a twin sister in the name of Inua Mama, which comprises women legislators from across the country.

Inua Mama -- co-chaired by Kandara MP Alice Wahome and Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika -- though claiming to empower women, was a strategic move to counter the Embace Group, another coalition of women leaders seen to be allied to President Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga.

“We are going back to economically empower women, that is why we came up with the the political outfit,” Ms Wahome said.

The rival groups have also been tasked to evaluate the impact on the war on corruption, which has so far consumed a Cabinet Secretary, principal secretaries and chiefs of parastatals and government agencies, on the political scene.

On Wednesday, National Treasury CS Henry Rotich, his PS Karanja Thugge and Regional Development PS Susan Koech were arraigned in court over allegations of planning to defraud the government Sh63 billion in Kimwarer and Arror dams tenders.

Politics on the twin dams scandals are now the main focus of gatherings.

“What is going on now is not a fight against graft, it is politicsmeant to hinder development from getting to other parts of the country,” said Senate Majority Leader Kipchumba Murkomen.

Behind the politics, there are two groups of experts that meet one once a week to take stock of every political movement and how it politically affects Ruto.

Recently, the President’s team recommended the disbandment of Kieleweke, a group that was formed to slow down Deputy President’s political capital and rival Tanga Tanga.

Experts believe the group had become redundant months after it was formed.

For the last two months, Kieleweke has not held any notable meeting, a far cry from the days it was in the news daily.

Pre-2022 deal

The Uhuru team is now courting Team Wanjiku, a new offshoot which brings together members who have broken away from both Tanga Tanga and Kieleweke.

The group is led by Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and EALA MP Simon Mbugua.

“We rely on well wishers to help our agenda of empowering Wanjiku,” said Mbugua, the group’s coordinator.

The Sonko and Kuria team has already put up a secretariat in Upper Hill, Mbugua said.

The Uhuru team is keeping a wild card close to its chest, sources say. It is aimed at pushing the Deputy President to enter into a pre-2022 government sharing deal.

Another plan is to have the President bring top leaders aligned to Ruto, particularly Rift Valley governors and key opinion leaders, to abandon the DP’s camp and directly support Uhuru. This, the President’s strategist hope, will pile pressure on Ruto to surrender to the scheme.