President Ruto Reiterates That Him And The Deputy President Are Mentoring Young Leaders
The Mt Kenya Times 
President William Ruto and his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- When I asked the leaders of the Mountain to nominate and give me a popular candidate, majority of them preferred a young candidate.
- But I know you are aware that as per the constitution, the prerogative of nominating the nominee squarely lies with me.
- That is how I settled on Gachagua as my running mate. The main reason was because he is my age-mate.
- I knew he would help me to steer this country to great heights of prosperity and success.
- As for the young leaders, my considered opinion was that they can wait for a while.
- This however should not be interpreted to mean they did not have a vision for this country. They also had what it takes to steer the country to great heights.
President William Ruto has reiterated that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and I were committed to mentoring young leaders in this country.
Speaking during the Akurinu National Prayer Conference held in Nakuru, Dr Ruto singled out the supremacy battle for Mountain kingpin.
It should be noted besides DP there were young leaders eyeing this seat. One of them is Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro who also doubles as the chairman of National Assembly Budget and Appropriation Committee.
We will continue to nurture and mentor young leaders.
Dr Ruto however called on them to respect the DP.
In the meantime, the President for the first time revealed why he settled on Gachagua as his running mate in the run up to 2022 general elections.
When I asked the leaders of the Mountain to nominate and give me a popular candidate, majority of them preferred a young candidate.
But I know you are aware that as per the constitution, the prerogative of nominating the nominee squarely lies with me.
That is how I settled on Gachagua as my running mate. The main reason was because he is my age-mate.
I knew he would help me to steer this country to great heights of prosperity and success.
As for the young leaders, my considered opinion was that they can wait for a while.
This however should not be interpreted to mean they did not have a vision for this country. They also had what it takes to steer the country to great heights.
For the DP, one thing is clear. He has been positioning himself as a senior-most politician in Mount Kenya region.
I have been asking myself this question. Is this what the ground saying?
Given my nature of work as a writer and political analyst/commentator, I have been listening keenly to the views of the people drawn from the region.
As of now, Kikuyu who dominates this region were split on three leaders: DP, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro and Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru.
For them, the latter stood a high chance if the proposal to amend the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) constitution and create a male-female ticket sail through.
In the eve of Limuru 11, Gachagua changed the tack. He asserted that he has been a strong believer and proponent of one-man, one-vote, one-shilling. This was one of key agenda item for Limuru 3. As such, this showed he was not taking this forum lightly. The DP was initially totally opposed to one-man, one-shilling campaign.
In Embu, Gachagua urged the people of the Mountain to be wary of leaders who were out to divide them. Our unity is our strength.
Many believed he was targeting Ndindi. This is because he had refused to support him and instead he was putting his best foot forward to square it with him for position of the Mount Kenya kingpin.
Just like him, the DP ought to know his competitors were exercising their democratic and constitutional rights. Therefore it was hard to convince the people of the Mountain that they were out to divide them.
Gachagua’s change of tack also came at a time when the UDA was holding the grassroots election.
As this exercise continued, President Ruto chaired a meeting of National Executive Committee (NEC) of ruling United Democratic Alliance Party at State House Nairobi.
The meeting focussed on emerging issues that threatened to divide the party.
From onset, President Ruto, who is the party leader, was rooting for a free, fair and credible election.
His ultimate goal was to build a strong party that becomes a beacon of democracy not only in Kenya, Africa but the world at large.
He was therefore keen to provide leadership that would resolve the disputes and contentious issues in an amicable manner and in early stages.
The UDA constitution provides for the position of the party leader and three positions of the deputy party leader.
This was the most contested clause. The Gachagua team felt that the clause had been sneaked by DP’s political enemies.
This was a well calculated plot to clip Gachagua’s wings.
Our battle of pushing for the amendment of this clause has started. This is a battle that we cannot lose. We must win.
At State House meeting, Dr Ruto, the party leader, reportedly stated. We have heard the arguments from all the sides and this is my proposal.
This matter will be sorted out by National Delegates Conference (NDC)
Earlier reports indicated that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was leaving nothing to chance in his bid to plant his loyalists to the positions that were being contested.
One can understand where he is coming from.
As the second in command he believes he is just a heart-beat away from becoming the President of this country.
This brings me to the question. Does he enjoy the support of the masses in the Mountain? If not, then it will be hard for him to realize his dreams. Power comes from the people.
I know one of his key strategy is to follow the footsteps of the current President William Ruto.
As we know, Dr Ruto, then deputy president, started to lay his political foundation during the first term of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
He was however more strategic. He would take advantage of Uhuru’s absence and visit all parts of the country to represent him. This was during the launch and commissioning of mega development projects.
I’m here to represent my boss. He would take advantage of this to front himself as the best suited candidate to succeed President Kenyatta.
As a result, Dr Ruto managed to build political stamina. Come the second term, he had enough foot soldiers. So he would not fear taking on his boss head-on.
The ‘handshake’ was the stick that broke the camel’s back. Ruto took advantage of the fallout with his boss to launch the second phase of his campaign that catapulted him to seat of power.
Reports have indicated that Gachagua is fronting Embakasi MP James Gakuya to take up the position of Nairobi UDA chairmanship as opposed to Governor Johnson Sakaja.
The media report suggested that he had hatched a plot to stop Sakaja from voting. The governor however managed to manuever his way and he finally voted.
Going by latest development, the talk that Mudavadi was being favored by President William Ruto does not hold any water.
The President has been reprimanding and distancing himself from the leaders engaging in succession politics. I have no time for this premature and empty debates. My eyes and ears are trained on fulfilling the pledges I made during the campaign, he once said during a development tour of Western Kenya.
He was responding to claims by Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale that he will pass the baton to Mudavadi in 2032.
The President reiterated this position during his recent development tour of Kikuyu land in Mountain. I’m not hear to do politics. I’m here to launch and commission development projects which will transform the lives of our people in a big way.
It is worth noting if the DP loses the kingship, this will cost him dearly.
So, if that happened, Dr Ruto was likely to drop him and pick Ndindi or Waiguru.
The latter would stand a high chance if the proposal to create a male-female lineup would sail through.
In 2022, the mountain voted as a bloc for President Ruto. Dr Ruto’s prayer and wish is to rally this region behind him in 2027 polls.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a Writer and Political Analyst based in Nairobi
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