The political tiff between President William Ruto and Deputy Rigathi Gachagua is taking a familiar twist similar to the acrimonious political fallout that characterised the former’s relationship with Uhuru Kenyatta.
On Saturday, the DP moved closer to directly linking the President to his woes, pointing accusing fingers at persons he described as the President’s men from the Rift Valley.
“There are a few leaders from this region [Rift Valley] with proximity to the President who are rocking the politics of Mount Kenya,” Gachagua said.
“We are asking for just small respect, don’t try to meddle in Mount Kenya politics and to plan for us the leadership of Mount Kenya. Plan your own politics and your own leadership.”
Before Gachagua spoke, former Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri named three of Ruto’s close associates whom he claimed are bankrolling the rebellion against the DP.
He named a Cabinet Secretary, an MP and a longtime aide to the President— all from the Rift Valley.
“They are the ones leading the incitement and plan to fight the Deputy President. They have enough money,” Ngunjiri claimed, saying the group is fomenting political trouble in the entire Rift Valley.
Gachagua was conspicuously missing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where top government officials turned up to receive Ruto from his four-day visit to the US.
At hand to receive the President was Interior CS Kindiki Kithure who was a top contender for the running mate job in the 2022 presidential contest.
Prior to Ruto’s departure, Gachagua had also been missing in action. He later said he had taken taken a seven-day break “for prayers, fasting [and] meditation” at the heart of Mt Kenya Forest.
The Saturday statement by the DP was the first public admission that he is a man under siege.
Ruto has repeatedly pledged that he would not allow his second in comand to be “humiliated”.
“It is an unfortunate situation. Given an opportunity, I would not allow my Deputy President to be humiliated the way former Deputy Presidents have been humiliated and the way I have been humiliated,” he said.
The fallout comes hardly two years after the two took power.
But their political tiff mirrors that of Ruto and Uhuru in many ways.
In the earlier days of their fallout, then DP would not directly accuse Uhuru of orchestrating his political downfall.
Ruto would instead aim his artillery at the President's inner circle, including then Interior CS Fred Matiangi and his then Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho.
“I know my boss [Uhuru] and he can’t send people to go around insulting others while chest-thumping and displaying arrogance,” Ruto said in 2019, while hitting out at Matiang'i and Kibicho.
On matters Jubilee Party, Ruto constantly fought with party vice chairman David Murathe and then secretary general Raphael Tuju.
But as the 2022 presidential election drew to a close, he took off the gloves in a ruthless political combat against Uhuru, linking him to the country’s economic mess characterised by plunder, over borrowing and poor planing.
While Gachagua still remains diplomatic, a section of his allies have started linking Ruto to schemes to bring him down.
"There was a time when the current President, when he was the deputy, invited Amos Kimunya to read the President's speech. That's what they are trying to do to Gachagua," an MP aware of the behind the scene intrigues told the Star.