Rift Valley MPs Challenge President Kenyatta to Come Out Clean on Backing DP Ruto's 2022 Presidential Bid

A section of Members of Parliament from the Rift Valley region have now challenged President Kenyatta to openly and publicly endorse Deputy President William Ruto's 2022 presidential bid.

The leaders allied to the DP want the President to make an assurance that the 2012 agreement that he will back his deputy to succeed him in 2022 still holds and that he's still committed to it.

The MPs, who spoke to the Star expressed their fears that the recent handshake between President Kenyatta and Opposition chief Raila Odinga, could throw the deal in disarray.

 "Since the two (Raila and Uhuru) shook hands outside Harambee House, his body language has not been that assuring. During the burial of Kenneth Matiba in Murang'a county a week ago and during the State of the Nation address in Parliament last week, the President never made any reference to the DP and this has added salt to suspicion. This needs to be cured by Uhuru coming out," a vocal MP who spoke to the Star and declined to be mentioned, said.

While Uhuru and Raila have assured Kenyans that their unity pact is solely aimed at reconciling the nation, a section of the opposition leader's lieutenants have suggested otherwise.

“We have a strategy and it is part of what you are currently witnessing in the country. Raila is a visionary, he sees where most of us can't," Siaya senator James Orengo, a confidant of Odinga, said in Migori over the weekend.

Belgut MP Nelson Koech said that it would be wise for President Kenyatta to make it clear that the handshake has nothing to do with 2022 politics.

"Unless the President comes out and pronounces himself on the agreement they have with the DP, and assures us as a region that he will not shortchange us, some of our supporters are asking questions," Koech told the Star on the phone.

Over the weekend, Senate Majority leader Kichumba Murkomen claimed that Odinga was using the handshake to play politics instead of preaching unity.

“It is now becoming increasingly clear that the recent handshake is being used for a political agenda. What looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck is a duck,” Murkomen said.

He added, “Odinga is telling us that the recent handshake is for the unity of this country, while in political rallies he is talking about 2022 politics. This means he is not sincere in this matter."

“We want to take the handshake to mean that it was all about unifying Kenyans which we shall fully support. Anything outside that, we will not be party to. What we know in Rift Valley and in the Mt Kenya region is that we have a candidate for 2022, and we still stand with that 2013 package," Nakuru Woman Representative Liza Chelule said.

“The assurance of the President that all is well is key. We do not want to doubt the President on his support for the DP. So far, there's no reason to do so," Bomet Governor Joyce Laboso pointed out.