President Uhuru Kenyatta is engaged in a delicate balancing act, sometimes undermining his deputy William Ruto and recently appeasing him to keep the troubled Jubilee marriage together.
The Star has learnt that Uhuru’s surprise decision to back McDonald Mariga for the Kibra parliamentary seat was not on the cards and came as a huge disappointment to the President’s handlers.
However, the endorsement came just moments after Uhuru, in an unprecedented move, cancelled the graft-ridden Sh22 billion Kimwarer Dam project, which Ruto had supported.
The President’s move caused disquiet in Ruto’s Rift Valley backyard but the unease was largely drowned out by excitement over the Mariga endorsement.
Ruto’s allies say the endorsement was the clearest signal that bond between Uhuru and Ruto remains unshaken.
“Detractors of Jubilee would always want to create a narrative that there is a falling out between the President and the Deputy President. That is wrong and our decision on this Kibra by-election should be a clear sign to those who think otherwise,” Majority leader Aden Duale told the Star.
The dams scandal has brought down several of Ruto’s men in government, including Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich. They were charged the CS replaced on an acting basis by Ukur Yattani.
This prosecution came despite a massive campaign by the DP against any action, at one time rubbishing graft claims as “a flat lie”.
Sources told the Star that moment after the Mariga endorsement, the President called nominated MP Maina Kamanda and assured him of his support for Raila Odinga’s candidate, Imran Okoth.
Sources said the President informed the former Starehe MP that he had been ‘cornered’ into endorsing the ex-football star by Ruto and his Tangatatanga team.
“The President has not been keen on the Kibra by-election from the word go. He was just pushed to the corner by the Tangatanga team. The President is focussed on the future of his handshake with Raila,” a source within the presidency told the Star.
Initially, Mariga and his team were barred from entering State House at around noon on Wednesday.
They retreated to Sagret Hotel and later drove to meet the President in the evening.
On Friday, Ruto took to Twitter to rebuke those questioning why Uhuru threw his weight behind Mariga.
“The handshake was never meant to kill parties or replace competitive multi-party democracy,” Ruto said.
“Those ranting about our party leader endorsing our party candidate should give us a break. So it’s right for all others to endorse theirs and wrong for Jubilee. Fisi angojea mkono ya mtu story.”
Kamanda, the leader of the anti-Tangatanga team known as Kieleweke, is said to have been tasked by the President to meet Raila and reassure him of Uhuru’s support for the ODM candidate in Kibra.
Uhuru is said to have promised to quietly rally the Kikuyu vote to support Okoth in the November 7 by-election.
Kamanda on Thursday morning addressed the press with Raila at the former Prime Minister’s Capitol Hill office and declared he would support Okoth in his personal capacity.
“I will support the ODM candidate in the Kibra by-election because to me he is ike the Jubilee candidate. This is my personal decision and it should be clear that I am not speaking for anyone,” Kamanda said.
Ruto is said to have mobilised Nairobi Jubilee MPs allied to his Tangatanga team and prevailed upon the President to endorse Mariga to protect the party’s foothold in the capital city.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu told the Star that the President had reluctantly accepted Mariga because of pressure from Ruto and his Tangatanga team.
“The issue about Kibra is also about Nairobi politics. Jubilee MPs in Nairobi, most of whom are from Tangatanga, felt that failing to field a candidate in Kibra especially after pulling out of Embakasi South would send a wrong message to supporters,” Ngunjiri said.
Uhuru is walking a political tightrope balance his relationship with his restless deputy and firming up his handshake deal with Raila as the country awaits the Building Bridges Initiative report.
Politicians and analysts have warned that the handshake deal faces a real test in the Kibra by-election amid fears that the political confrontation might poison the handshake environment.
Ruto has been spoiling for a political showdown with Raila to test his war chest ahead of the 2022 presidential duel. Uhuru has been wary of jeopardising his blossoming relationship with the opposition chief.
Uhuru has been playing it safe on Kibra, forestalling any friction that might ruin his truce with Raila.
Sources say the Wednesday State House meeting was largely seen as a Uhuru-Mariga photo session and nothing concrete was agreed regarding the campaign strategy for Kibra.
But Ruto’s handlers swiftly shared the State House photos with the DP’s allies, celebrating online while trolling ODM for “spinning a narrative” that Jubilee was split.
The President had previously kept off the Kibra by-election debate despite infighting within his party on whether or not Jubilee was to field a candidate.
It emerged that on Wednesday, the President had held a brief meeting with Ruto, National Assembly Majority leader Aden Duale and Chief Whip Benjamin Washiali.
They were then joined by Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju, MPs Nixon Korir (Langata), Dan Wanyama (Webuye West), ohn Kiarie (Dagoretti South), Benjamin Mwangi (Embakasi Central), James Gakuya (Embakasi North) and Starehe MP Charles Njagua for the introduction of Mariga.
“The President and the DP meet more often and there is nothing unique if they met. We made promises to Kenyans which they must ensure are rolled out,” he told the Star in his Parliament office.
He went on, “As media, I want to challenge you to count the number of people who make up the so-calledKieleweke. They are not more than 10 and the number is reducing day by day. Our competitors are using that to say that there are divisions in our party. Shame.”