Why Mt Kenya Leaders are Dismayed by President Ruto’s Inclusion of Opposition Figures in New Cabinet
Opposition voices have surfaced in the Mt Kenya region, sharply criticizing President William Ruto’s decision to include opposition figures in his Cabinet.
Following the dissolution and reconstitution of his Cabinet in response to prolonged anti-government protests by Gen Zs, President Ruto appointed six Cabinet Secretaries from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
ODM leader Raila Odinga had recently rallied MPs to support this political arrangement.
“There comes a time when the most important thing is not what benefits leaders or political parties, but what benefits the people,” he said while on a tour of Kisii and Nyamira counties.
However, dissatisfaction remains among some Kenya Kwanza leaders, particularly allies of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, and factions within the Azimio la Umoja coalition, which supported Odinga in the 2022 election.
ODM’s alignment with the government has faced backlash from Azimio partners. Jubilee, Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka, the Democratic Action Party (DAP-K) led by Eugene Wamalwa, Martha Karua, and Party of National Unity (PNU) leader Peter Munya have all expressed opposition, with Karua beginning the process of Narc-K’s exit from Azimio.
In President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), a constituent of the Kenya Kwanza Alliance, Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga, a close ally of Gachagua, has questioned the connection with ODM.
“We are witnessing strange happenings, however, we have no choice but to wait and see what happens after the appointment of the new Cabinet,” he said.
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The fierce defender of the DP said: “We are back to that position we were in when former president Uhuru Kenyatta surprised us with a handshake between him and Mr Odinga in 2018.”
The governor said that although it is the prerogative of the President to pick the people he believes will help him deliver his legacy, “the political implications are deep, since 87 percent of people from Mt Kenya region voted for the government, and cannot be ignored.”
“More effort needs to be made to explain to the people of Mt Kenya why they woke up on August 9, 2022, to vote (for Ruto),” Mr Kahiga said.
“I believe Mr Odinga is on his way into the government, and soon, he will break away, as he usually does, to form competition against us during the 2027 elections,” he added.
Mbeere North Member of Parliament Geoffrey Ruku in an interview on Inooro TV on Monday said: “The President giving out 30 percent of the government to those who were fighting him elicited negative feelings in Mt Kenya region.”
“We are not amused, certainly we are not. If a little more pressure is exerted on him, he might increase the percentage to 50, or perhaps more,” Mr Ruku said.
PNU leader Munya said: “The decision to incorporate opposition politicians in the Cabinet does not promote ethics of good democracy.”
Jubilee Secretary-General Jeremiah Kioni argued that the inclusion of opposition members reflects a political miscalculation by President Ruto, a view supported by former Gatanga MP Nduati Ngugi.
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Mr. Ngugi said the allies of the President’s support of the broad-based government is akin to “dressing a septic wound without sterilization, and the bad smell will surely come out”.
“We, the Jubilee party wing that is loyal to former President Uhuru Kenyatta, are disturbed that the so-called broad-based Cabinet is underlining the notion that ‘it’s time to eat for those who win power’,” Mr. Ngugi argued.
He said that the development has frayed relations within Azimio since “all political parties in the coalition from Mt Kenya region have broken ranks with Mr Odinga’s ODM party.”
Former Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu protested that “the President gave us Cabinet slots that have no clout and influence.”
“Prime positions were given to people who did not believe in his ability to lead the nation, and he has confirmed to them that they were right,” Mr Waititu claimed.
“The ODM Cabinet appointees are political heavyweights who can mobilize political programs ahead of 2027,” he argued.
ODM’s new Cabinet appointments include Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), John Mbadi (National Treasury), and former governors Hassan Joho (Mining) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives).
Isaac Njoroge, a member of the County Assembly in Murang’a, expressed frustration that Mt Kenya’s allies have been undermining development efforts through internal conflicts.
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“If there are people who have let the President down, then they are his allies in Mt Kenya region. They have been fighting and plotting against each other at the expense of the development agenda,” Mr Njoroge argued.
However, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro said: “The politics of hurling abuses at each other will take us nowhere. I don’t want to be a party to those kinds of debates since voters will use our development agendas as the marking scheme when next we return to them to seek elective positions,” Mr Nyoro told Nation.Africa on Monday.
“We are supposed to stop bickering and concentrate on delivering the promises we made to the people while campaigning for office.”
Naivasha MP Jayne Kihara and former Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri said that Mt Kenya “must not sleep with both eyes closed.”
Mr. Ngunjiri said: “The point at which Mr. Odinga will depart from this government will leave us groping in the dark because he will spoil our calculations and that is the reason why we should play safe and prepare our plan “B” well in advance”.
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“It will not come as a surprise to me if his (Ruto) reunion with Mr. Odinga, through handing him prime Cabinet slots, is an advance announcement that ‘he might seek reelection as their candidate’,” Mr. Ngunjiri said.
He speculated that Ruto’s new Cabinet and plans to dissolve Kenya Kwanza affiliate parties could destabilize Mt Kenya, recalling past disruptions when URP was absorbed into the Jubilee Party.
“What if he uses the party exclusively for his directives? Where will that leave us in the Mountain? He knows how collapsing his own United Republican Party (URP) to form the Jubilee Party in 2016 destabilized him. That is where we in Mt Kenya risk finding ourselves,” he said.
Ngunjiri proposed forming a new political party in Mt Kenya to ensure a robust presence in the 2027 General Election.
Why Mt Kenya Leaders are Dismayed by President Ruto’s Inclusion of Opposition Figures in New Cabinet
