President Uhuru Kenyatta’s leadership has come under sharp criticism with a section of the political class accusing him of subverting the constitution in a calculated move to remain in power after the 2022 General Elections.
In a statement on Friday, May 15, former senators Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), Johnson Muthama (Machakos) and Hassan Omar Hassan (Mombasa) accused the head of state of taking advantage of the novel coronavirus crisis and the existing restrictions to wage tyranny on Kenyans.
The seasoned politicians said the recent post-election coalition between the Jubilee party and KANU leader Gideon Moi is a calculated move to make fool of Kenyans and have Uhuru and his family remain in power even after 2022 when his tenure comes to an end.
The leaders, who support Deputy President William Ruto presidential ambitions, say there is a plot to have Uhuru or a senior member of the Kenyatta family take over as Prime Minister after the 2022 elections.
“Disguised as an emerging coalition arrangement and its resultant Government of National Unity is a consensual and calculated scheme by ‘contracting’ parties to have a Kenyatta succeed Uhuru Kenyatta with a promise of a piece of the pie.
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“In the event that the country can be subjected to a referendum to enable a powerful Executive Prime Minister, then Uhuru Kenyatta will be Kenya’s Prime Minister. In the event of a watered-down version of a Prime Minister, Muhoho Kenyatta, Uhuru’s younger brother will be Prime Minister. For this they also need a President who will play ball, a card dangled to the contracting parties, ” the leaders said.
This, according to the politicians, is the reason why the President is determined to thwart his deputy’s political ambitions.
For fear that he has lost his support in the Mount Kenya region to Ruto, the leaders accuse the President of having resorted to intimidations targeted at crushing the DP’s lieutenants in the ‘Tanga Tanga’ camp as witnessed in the recent changes made in the Senate leadership.
“Standing in the way of a Kenyatta succeeding a Kenyatta is Deputy President William Ruto. Contradicting our conventional ethnic sensibilities, William Ruto has boggling and overwhelming support over Uhuru Kenyatta in the Mt. Kenya Region. Scientific research, keen observation and common sense attest to this fact, ” the statement reads.
“…The severity and extremity of actions to counter Ruto’s popularity in Mt. Kenya and his Presidential bid, an erosion of the constitution and its institutions, wanton illegalities and more specifically the victimisation and coercion of elected leaders from Mt. Kenya region is set to get worse.”
The recent changes in the Senate spearheaded by the President saw Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen lose his majority seat to West Pokot Senator Samuel Poghisio. Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata replaced Nakuru Senator Susan Kihika as majority whip.
Despite the DP’s allies protesting the takeover and even obtaining court orders to stop their ouster, Senate Speaker Keneth Lusaka ratified the changes, officially kicking them out this week.
Murkomen said the changes were done in bad faith and accused the Speaker of having been influenced to endorse the changes.
Also Read: Jubilee Party to Expel Nominated Senators Who Snubbed Parliamentary Group Meeting
“I don’t blame, you, I know you are acting under duress,” he said, in what sparked protests from several Senators including ODM minority leader James Orengo, who accused him of undermining the Speaker.
Khalwale and his colleagues condemned the President and Jubilee Secretary General Raphael Tuju for threatening to expel nominated senators a majority being women, who snubbed the Parliamentary Group meeting at State House, Nairobi, which saw Murkomen and Kihika stripped off their roles.
“The cessation of normalcy occasioned by the Covid-19 crisis and the virtual paralysis of institutions has provided ample opportunities for constitutional delinquents to steal a march on the rest of the country.
“A case in point is the affront to our constitution and institutions from within the Jubilee Party. Not satisfied with mobilising to fraudulently upset democratic Parliamentary arrangements. the tyrannical chauvinists subsequently unleashed administrative violence against women nominated senators, citing flimsy and arbitrary grounds to underscore their impunity. In so doing, an illegitimate party leadership made a lurid mockery of the party’s institutions and the very principle of democracy by contemptuously assaulting the party list the voters endorsed and humiliating its members reminiscent of the dark days of Kanu-style impunity, a painful and worrying reminder of the yesteryears.
Also Read: Martha Karua Wants To Be Left Out Of Jubilee Party’s Messy Divorce
“Be warned that the Kanu-style dictatorship is back with its offspring and surrogates on both sides of the political divide. In this creeping dictatorship, certainly, women will fare worse than ever before, ” the leaders said.
The three politicians now say the President and his handshake partner Raila Odinga have no good intentions for Kenyans.
The leader claims the two intend to use the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) for their selfish political interests.
They said that as the country marks the 10th anniversary since the promulgation of the 2010 constitution, the President should respect the rule of law.
They called on the Presidency to shelve political gimmicks and help Kenyans pull through the Covid-19 pandemic and floods that have killed hundreds.
“At a time when the siren call of constitutional delinquency has enraptured and ravaged the official opposition, we must step up and fight for the integrity of our motherland. It is clear from the behaviour of those mobilising against freedom, rule of law and the constitution that Covid-19 is no longer a crisis. We must, therefore, be ready to face them in valiant resistance and win our freedom for our own sake, and for the sake of posterity, ” they concluded.
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