Deputy President William Ruto’s scheme to penetrate Ukambani has triggered a bitter falling-out between Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka and former Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama.
Muthama, Kalonzo’s longtime ally and Wiper financier, has now called it quits and openly declared he will rally the region behind DP Ruto.
“I will ensure William Ruto becomes the fifth president of Kenya. And for the record, I am not being expelled from Wiper. I vomited Wiper in 2017, excuse me!" he said at a press conference on Thursday at his Gigiri home.
The move will trigger a scramble for more than 1.6 million voters in Lower Eastern that could tilt the scales in the 2022 General Election.
Kalonzo is also under siege in Ukambani from his other erstwhile lieutenants.
Muthama and governors Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) and Alfred Mutua (Machakos) are all positioning themselves to control the region's politics.
The new dynamics will complicate Kalonzo's efforts to tighten his grip on his backyard.
"Muthama has been a key pillar of Wiper financially and even in terms of mobilisation. His financial contribution cannot be gainsaid," political analyst Felix Odhiambo told the Star.
The Star has established, however, that Kalonzo’s rejection of Muthama's efforts to have him strike a 2022 deal with Ruto is at their heart of their acrimony.
Muthama has been quietly negotiating with Ruto to deliver Kalonzo but the former vice president rejected the overtures and instead signed a cooperation deal with President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee.
In January, Muthama went public and announced that a Ruto-Kalonzo deal was in the offing. Kalonzo dismissed the claim.
For more than a decade, Muthama has influenced Kalonzo's political direction, from 2007 when he ran for president and teamed up with Mwai Kibaki the following year to become his VP.
In 2013 and 2017 polls, Muthama was a key deal maker in handing Raila the presidential ticket with Kalonzo as his deputy.
On Thursday, National Assembly Minority Whip Robert Mbui (Kathiani), a close Kalonzo ally, said Muthama’s bitterness stems from his failed bid to "auction Wiper to Ruto.
“Muthama had all along been telling Ruto that he will deliver Kalonzo to him until he realised that Wiper had openly signed a cooperation agreement with Jubilee. It was after that he started claiming that he left Wiper in 2017,” Mbui said.
DP Ruto, who has fallen out irretrievably with President Kenyatta, is trying to court new allies as he strategises to achieve his presidential ambition.
There are claims that Muthama, as his new pointman, has been holding meetings with other estranged politicians from Ukambani, including Kibwana, to weaken Kalonzo’s influence.
Kalonzo signed a cooperation deal with Uhuru two weeks ago and has pledged to to stay put in the same matrix, which he argues will form the next government.
Kalonzo is relying on a solid backyard to enhance his bargaining power in political formations preceding 2022.
But as he seeks to cement his place in the President’s succession equation, Kalonzo is facing a new wave of rebellion in his home turf as key leaders pull in different directions.
Governor Mutua said he is determined to be a national leader and is not interested in Ukambani politics.
“Let Kalonzo be the Ukambani tribal chief. For me, I want to be a national leader working for all Kenyans irrespective of where they come from,” he told the Star.
The governor also dismissed the wave of coalition building among parties, terming them a collection of tribal chiefs.
“It is sad the leaders are being harnessed based on tribal blocs and not on what they have been able to do for Kenyans,” he said, adding that the sorry situation has forced CCM to go it alone as the alternative voice of the people.
In a separate interview with the Star, Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo denied there is discord between Kalonzo and Muthama.
Mutula said Muthama has just decided to support a different presidential candidate.
“The notion that Muthama supports DP Ruto and not Kalonzo for the presidency does not mean Kalonzo is losing grip on Ukambani,” Kilonzo said.
He insisted that like many others who opposed Kalonzo and failed, Muthama would be embarrassed big time when the Wiper leader "finally vies".
“Unknown to many, the Wiper brigade does not treat Kalonzo as a Kamba chieftain. He is a national leader. I expect him (Muthama) to troop back in the not so distant future," he said.
Muthama, who had been threatened with expulsion from Wiper , said on Thursday he is working "around the clock to ensue Ruto is elected President in 2022".
Muthama said he has no business with Wiper any more, signaling his bid to formally end his association with Kalonzo.
Saying he ditched the party when he dropped out of the Machakos Senate race in 2017, Muthama maintained the only person he can hold meetings with is now is Ruto to discuss "serious matters".
Muthama has already teamed up with former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar and vocal former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale to drum up support for Ruto’s 2022 bid.
But Minority Whip Mbui dismissed Muthama’s assertion that he had quit Wiper, saying the he is still member number 36 in the party's membership register.
Mbui said the party will proceed to expel him "to completely annihilate him from Ukambani politics".
“Muthama has been vanquished. He has no influence whatsoever in Ukambani. His influence and that of Kalonzo are like day and night,” he said, dismissing Muthama’s political gravitas.
On Tuesday, Wiper chairman Chirau Mwakwere revealed the party had started the process of kicking out Muthama out for insubordination.
He said a show-cause letter had been issued to Muthama, asking him to defend himself within two weeks or face disciplinary action.
“He has been making political statements that are not in line with the party,” Mwakwere said, without elaborating.
Muthama is facing four accusations ranging from advancing the agenda of rival politicians to failing to perform his mandate as a Wiper NEC member.
He is also on the spot for failing in his duties at the Nasa Coordination Committee, which he co-chairs with Senate Minority leader James Orengo.
Wiper is also accusing the former senator of spreading malicious propaganda and actively spreading hatred among the rank and file of the party membership.