The recent remarks by some Jubilee politicians that Deputy President William Ruto will not get automatic support from Mt Kenya region in 2022 must have hit him below the belt.
Ruto is eyeing the country’s top political seat come 2022 after his United Republican Party (URP) entered an agreement with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) prior to 2013 polls.
This solidified his hopes that he would get support from Uhuru and TNA come 2022.
But recent remarks by Kiambu Governor William Kabogo and Nominated Senator Paul Njoroge over Ruto’s 2022 presidential ambitions have cast doubts on whether the Kalenjin leader will get support from the Central region in six years’ time.
Njoroge said over the weekend that the DP’s visits to the central region added little value to Uhuru’s 2017 campaigns and were meant to push his 2022 agenda.
“It’s my feeling that the Deputy President is trying to blackmail the Kikuyu community when we know very well he is adding no value to (President Kenyatta’s) 2017 bid,” said the senator.
In an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday, the unapologetic Njoroge said it was wrong for the DP to campaign even before 2017 polls are conducted.
“We keep promising Ruto that we are going to vote for him in 2022. Suppose he feels betrayed (if we do not keep that promise), and then his people in the Rift Valley feel betrayed, you know how the story goes, and you know very well,” said the senator.
Njoroge’s remarks came barely three weeks after Kabogo said in a rally that Ruto might not get automatic support from Mt Kenya voters, simply because he entered a pact with Uhuru.
Kabogos’s statement irked URP leaders and Rift Valley residents, who even held peaceful demonstrations, seeking apologies from the outspoken governor.
The Kiambu governor later clarified his remarks, saying, “DP Ruto needs to engage Central Kenya ahead of 2022, he needs to reassure Central Kenya that he will secure their interests.”
However on Tuesday, Kabogo said the marriage between TNA and URP is still intact, but anything could happen before 2017.
On Tuesday, State House moved in to calm the storm, saying that Uhuru has been categorical that Jubilee would back Ruto in 2022 presidential elections in a plan to extend the party’s reign to 20 years.
Uhuru, through Senior Director of Public Communications Munyori Buku at State House, might have meant the words but the utterances by some Jubilee politicians must be worrying the DP and could dent his presidential ambitions in 2022, if he does not get backing from the Central region.