Nairobi: Deputy President William Ruto’s 2022 campaign has gone silent, with his vocal allies retreating as others cross the floor to join President Kenyatta’s faction of the ruling Jubilee Party. Laikipia Woman Rep Cate Waruguru and Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama are among leaders who have since ditched Ruto’s camp, as his troops in Coast, including Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa and Kilifi North MP Owen Baya focus on forming their party to field their own presidential candidate.
The change of Ruto’s fortunes comes after President Kenyatta locked him out of the Cabinet and government business. The President also successfully purged the DP’s supporters from both in the Senate and the National Assembly. Some politicians, civil servants and parastatal chiefs are now afraid of being seen with Ruto, probably for fear of landing in wrong books of Kenyatta.
Jubilee Deputy Secretary-General Caleb Kositany, who is also Ruto’s de-facto spokesperson, said that they had opted to “observe silence” for survival. “The reason why most of us have also agreed that team DP should keep quiet is the fact that there have been a lot of intimidations going on, but it will not bear fruit,” he said. “If you just come up with something that contradicts the President, you are being threatened that they will send the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) sleuths to investigate how you are using constituency development funds (CDF),” he added. Ruto recently confirmed the alleged threats as he asked church leaders to pray for his lieutenants, saying some of them were being threatened with court action if they do not toe the line of his political nemesis.
“In today’s Kenya, many people are being threatened that they will be taken to court, others to the Kenya Revenue Authority and EACC. Some are being told that they will be demoted or be removed from their offices not because they committed an offence or failed to deliver, but because they are my allies. But, am I also not a Kenyan?” he asked.
