Ruto: I’m ready to face rivals in ‘Super Alliance’
Deputy President William Ruto yesterday said he was ready to face the “Super Alliance” being crafted by allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition leader Raila Odinga in the 2022 elections.
Ruto who spoke when he hosted a delegation of political leaders from Kajiado County at his Karen residence noted that the political alliances being crafted to stop his march to State House in 2022 was proof he was the man to beat.
He was inferring to reports attributed to several leaders allied to president Kenyatta and Raila that they were in the process of crafting a formidable alliance ahead of the 2022 General Elections.
The team, which has been meeting at the residence of Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli at Ildamat on the main Nairobi-Namanga highway in Kajiado county has hinted at an alliance comprising Raila as a single-term president, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, former presidential candidate Peter Kenneth, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi.
Getting visitors
Referring to the group, Ruto stated: “You have told me that you have been getting a lot of visitors in Kajiado in someone’s house.
Don’t be concerned about those people. The activities are because there are people who are suffering since they have lacked someone to compete with me.
All these things you are hearing in Kajiado, a line-up of more than 30 people who are uniting and still fear that the number is not enough, that they are looking for more to join them. I am just waiting for them,” said Ruto.
The Ildamat group is pegging its arithmetic on the possible expansion of the Executive through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) to create the positions of the Prime Minister and two deputies to accommodate the many regional kingpins in the line-up, among them the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Dr Mukhisa Kituyi and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya.
Those who have been attending the Ildamat strategy meetings include Jubilee Party vice-chairman David Murathe, Siaya Senator James Orengo and National Assembly minority whip Junet Mohammed, deputy majority whip Maoke Maore, an ally of Uhuru and Tiaty MP William Kamket, an ally of Moi.
Under the arrangement, Kenneth is being touted for the post of Prime Minister with either Kalonzo or Kituyi as the possible VP.
Yesterday, Ruto described the line-up as an assembly of ethnic kingpins that should not be entertained in the modern day because they will polarise the country.
He said it was politically immoral to have tribal kingpins coalesce and purport to make political decisions on behalf of their respective communities.
“There is a lot of pressure that every community should have a tribal chief so that the tribal chiefs meet somewhere and make decisions on behalf of their communities.
We want to tell them, my friends, every Kenyan will decide for oneself. No one will decide for others.
There are no longer fools in Kenya whose decisions used to be made by other people on their behalf, those days are gone,” Ruto said.
Purge on allies
It is at Ildamat that Raila, Murathe and Atwoli held a meeting on April 13, setting the stage for the purge on Ruto’s allies in the Jubilee Party’s highest decision making organ, the National Management Council, the National Assembly and the Senate.
It was reported that Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid took the centre stage of discussions, with majority of those present “resolving to ensure that his desired rise to the country’s top seat is nipped in the bud”.
The meeting is also said to have explored possibilities of forming a formidable alliance to bring together politically like-minded individuals.
Those present at the meeting pointed to an emerging alliance to lead the onslaught against Ruto’s 2022 State House bid.
It is instructive that before leaving for Kajiado, Raila had met Senator Moi at the Karen residence of former Funyula MP Paul Otuoma.
The three held a two-hour closed-door meeting that was said to have dwelt on Ruto’s presidential bid.
Atwoli would later confirm that the meeting had indeed tackled various issues including possible political realignments ahead of 2022.
“Though the meeting ended up with some strategies, it was meant to be a get-together to celebrate Easter.
