Betty Maina verbal attack on Alice Wahome signals all is not well in Murang'a UDA family
Kandara MP-elect Chege Njuguna, left, chats with Murang'a Woman Rep Betty Maina and UDA Secretary General Veronicah Maina moments after he was declared the winner at Ng'araria Girls High School in Murang'a County on January 6, 2023.
It is no longer a secret that President William Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party is in a crisis in Murang'a County.
Voices of discontent, big guns humiliating each other publicly and threats of impeachment for Governor Irungu Kang'ata are some of the signs all is not well.
To political pundits, the evidence of the serious cracks in the party have been playing out, culminating in a near loss in January 5, 2023 Kandara by-election.
The UDA's candidate Mr Chege Njuguna garnered 21,650 votes against Ford Asili's Mr Njau Mbuchu who received 14,678 votes.
"That is below average performance for a ruling party that enjoyed more than 80 percent support only four months ago in the August 9 General Election. UDA won in the afternoon after it's big guns executed a late voter 'mobilisation' drive.
The Ford Asili man was the outright favourite," said Kandara Youthful Voters for UDA chairman, James Muro.
But the writing has been on the wall that things were falling apart in the President's party.
And the big question begging for answer is: Is it the start of the end or it is just teething problems in area UDA affairs?
Therein lies the grand split of the UDA party in the county that is reputed to be the cradle of Agíkúyú community at Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine in Kiharu constituency.
To most political analysts, what is endorsed in Murang'a ends up being the unanimous position for Mt Kenya region hence why President Ruto has been urged to take a personal interest in the power plays shaping out.
The full blown collapse of respect among the county UDA luminaries erupted on Friday during the proclamation of the Kandara by-election winner.
Accompanied by UDA Secretary General Ms Veronica Maina and a dozen MPs, Murang'a Woman Rep Betty Maina dismissed Water and Sanitation CS Alice Wahome as a 'traitor'.
The by-election was for picking a replacement for Ms Wahome who had been appointed to the Cabinet by President Ruto.
Ms Maina accused Ms Wahome of sabotaging UDA programmes in the county, sarcastically telling her that "you need to realise that President Ruto appointed you to his Cabinet to help strengthen the party and its agenda".
She accused Ms Wahome of behaving like a plumber instead of Water CS..."and you need to be told off this early...that if it is politics you want to play, you resign from the Cabinet".
While she cast her vote at Muruka Primary School polling station, Ms Wahome had insisted that she had no preferred candidate since the law does not allow a public servant to take sectarian position.
"Mine is to just to exercise my civic duty of voting as a Kandara registered voter. Whoever wins is our son. What lies ahead of us is working for our people. My mandate is national...Our support is for our government led by President Ruto," she said.
Not sincere
But Ms Maina, without providing evidence, insisted that Ms Wahome was not sincere.
At the AIPCA church function, Mr Gachagua had paraded Ms Wahome, Naivasha MP Jane Kihara, Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, Trade CS Moses Kuria and Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichung'wa and himself as the 'Big Six' that led Mt Kenya rebellion against Uhuru' Kenyatta and embraced Dr Ruto.
"That is why Ms Maina's public attack raises eyebrows and cannot in anyway be construed to be a hormonal imbalance political motivation...This is something planned," insists Mt Kenya region political analyst Prof Ngugi Njoroge.
Prof Njoroge predicts that "there have emerged power plays within President Ruto's inner circle in Mt Kenya region and Ms Maina is just mouthing some big man's thoughts".
Currently, there appears to be no agreeement as to who is the Mt Kenya region political kingpin.
While by virtue of holding the highest political office in the region, Mr Gachagua has not managed to win unanimous endorsement and he is seen to be struggling to stamp his political authority.
It is in those kingship politics that all the public tiffs and also underground shoves are playing out and pundits warn that it is just a matter of time before the intrigues implode to an all-out war.
On December 2, Mr Gachagua toured the county and of all the seven parliamentarians, only Maragua's Mary wa Maua who was the host, attended.
"This is telling that a Deputy President can be left to roam a county unaccompanied by area elected leaders in a single resolve to beautify his function and deliver a message that he is the kingpin. We might be overthinking but it is not a crime to draw conclusions from available evidence of boycott," said a senior UDA party official who opted for anonymity.
An area elected leader told Nation.Africa that "we want to make it known that all available opportunities in the county should be distributed equitably to benefit all constituencies devoid of capture by the big man syndrome".
The leader alleged that opportunities are being grabbed by selected few and even after they raise their concerns with Mr Gachagua, no redress is being offered.During another of Mr Gachagua visit to AIPCA church at Kenol town, Gatanga MP Mr Edward Muriu told him to his face that the party was shortchanging critical allies.
"I am a founder member of UDA...I registered more than 60,000 people in Gatanga as party members. It was the highest single constituency listing in the country," Mr Muriu started.
He added that when the vote was called "and we gave the UDA party 85 percent of our votes, we were relegated to oblivion when it came to sharing out county benefits".
Mr Muriu who is a legal committee member at the UDA secretariat complained that "we were shortchanged for the County Assembly nominations".
He said: "since these matters are within your purview, we urge you to intervene and give us justice."
He said some constituencies did not get any nomination slot in the county Assembly "a matter that makes our people feel like they might wash off their hands against the party, which is not what we would desire".
However, when Mr Gachagua rose to speak, he avoided making any reference to the complaint. The nominations fiasco has seen four disgruntled people move to court demanding revocation of the already sworn in nominated MCAs.
The petitioners claimed that five out of the 12 nominees come from Kiharu Constituency while the area has seven constituencies.
The matter is not being helped by fears that there is a rift building in the UDA party in Murang'a County where it is being rumoured that two factions are fighting for control of county power and opportunities.
There are fears that the county is being micromanaged from Nairobi and a powerful MP being said to be calling the shots on behalf of State House networks.
"The controlling network has started sweet talking some MCA's and in turn, the recruits have started exploring grounds of impeaching Mr Kang'ata.
It is only that the scheme has been slowed down by the recent Meru governor Ms Kawira Mwangaza's impeachment that hot nowhere," tipped an MCA.
The MCA said there are concerns that the governor has demeaned them by giving the 35 elected ward representatives Sh9 million each as 'Ward Development Fund'.
There is also the problem of recruiting County Health Volunteers where the MCAs want to be given the mandate to hire them.
"There are other MCAs who feel that they should be granted opportunity to propose employees to new job opportunities but while Mr Kang'ata has no problem with that, the cartel controlling us from Nairobi wants to hijack those slots," another MCA said.
