Kabogo: What Ruto submitted to parties registrar isn't what we'd agreed on

Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo. [File, Standard]

 

Former Kiambu Governor William Kabogo has threatened to ditch Kenya Kwanza coalition.

Kabogo says Deputy President William Ruto appears to be favouring Musalia Mudavadi of ANC and Moses Wetangula of Ford-Kenya.

This is after the affiliate parties deposited a coalition agreement with the Registrar of Political Parties indicating that Mudavadi will take up the Prime Cabinet Secretary position should Ruto win the August 9 polls.

The prime CS post is akin to that of prime minister in an expanded Executive.

In the agreement, Mudavadi’s ANC will also propose several Cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries and ambassadors, taking up 30 per cent of government alongside Wetangula’s Ford-Kenya.

Wetangula, as per the agreement, will be proposed as Speaker of the National Assembly.

UDA, which is Ruto’s sponsor party, will take up the president and deputy president positions, with a bulk of government centred around it.

Kabogo now says that’s not what he and Ruto agreed on, when he (Kabogo) accepted to join Kenya Kwanza.

“I want to send out a message. I have seen the coalition agreement that UDA, ANC and Ford-Kenya have deposited with the political parties’ registrar,” Kabogo said during a political rally at Makongeni in Thika, Kiambu County on Thursday, May 12.

“I did not join hands with William Ruto to get an appointive position.

“When he and I held a meeting in Dubai, I told him that I’m not interested in any Executive seat. However, I told him that I wanted him to ensure that resources are distributed equitably among Kenyan regions, especially in areas that will support his presidential bid, key among them the Mt. Kenya region. What I suggested is that resources should be channelled based on human population. He accepted my suggestion at the time.”

The former county chief said the expanded Executive proposal that seeks to introduce prime CS wasn’t part of his agreement with Ruto.

“I never saw that being factored in in the agreement deposited with the registrar of political parties,” he said.

“[After the agreement was deposited with the political parties’ registrar], I called and asked him (Ruto) to explain the document. I told him: ‘I have seen you’ve highlighted how you’ll share seats in the Executive; with Mudavadi and Wetangula occupying 30 per cent of government’. I stated to him that, on my end, I don’t want even one per cent of the Executive seats.

“However, I insisted that the people of Mt. Kenya must get benefits from his government. I further told him that if he won’t commit to such an arrangement, we will ditch the [Kenya Kwanza] coalition, even if only ten of us agree to leave. And, thereafter, Kenyans will know what I had seen that necessitated my exit from Kenya Kwanza.”

Kabogo, who leads Tujibebe Wakenya Party, is eyeing the Kiambu gubernatorial seat. He will face off against UDA’s Kimani Wamatangi and Jubilee’s James Nyoro.