Despite the dress down by President Uhuru Kenyatta targeting their persistent politicking, Mt Kenya rebel MPs are planning a major fight back, reports the Nation.
Last Sunday, Uhuru dared them to continue with campaigns in the region, threatening to descend on them in their respective jurisdictions for a major showdown.
The legislators, mainly from Mt Kenya, warned that they would use public rallies, the floors of the National Assembly and the Senate, television and radio stations as well as the social media to advance Mr Ruto’s 2022 agenda.
They also vowed to take the battle to the seat of the president, Harambee House, by moving a bill in parliament to scrap the confidential vote managed by the Interior ministry, which they claim is funding the anti-Ruto campaigns.
Confidential vote is an allocation in Presidency which is not subjected to the audit. The Tangatanga troops believe that the kitty is being misused by anti-Ruto leaders in government thus the plan to block it.
“Since the fund (confidential expenditure) has been politically used against the deputy president, I will be proposing the scrapping of the same to ensure prudent management of public resources and to rein in some rogue public servants who are using the kitty to undermine Ruto,” a defiant Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro told the Sunday Nation.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and his powerful PS Karanja Kibicho are the ones targeted on the kitty which is usually used by the ministry.
“That is their prerogative. If they feel it (the expenditure) is not useful for our country, they can scrap it. We have no problem. They can do as they please,” the powerful PS said, adding thus; “Let’s see how far that gets," Kibicho said.
Kirinyaga Woman representative Wangui Ngirici was also up in arms; “Even if some animals are bigger than others, we are all equal in parliament. While we were in Mombasa, another group was in Murang’a but we are the only ones being rebuked, we shall continue accompanying the DP in his development tours and we shall also do the same with the President upon his request,” she said.
True to their planned defiance, the MPs were seen in different parts of the country advancing pro-Ruto campaigns. Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwah was in Trans Nzoia with DP Ruto on Saturday.