Muthama: Alfred Mutua must apologise for his 10-year ‘misrule’

The political rivalry between Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua and United Democratic Alliance (UDA) chairman Johnson Muthama is far from over with the latter insisting that he will continue to avoid rallies attended by the county chief.

The tiff now between the duo, now key figures in Deputy President William Ruto’s camp in a region believed will play a crucial role in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s succession, is likely to jeopardise Kenya Kwanza moves to slash a pie of over 1.6 million votes of the lower Eastern.

Mr Muthama has skipped two political rallies addressed by DP Ruto in Machakos County, citing the presence of Dr Mutua, the Maendeleo Chap Chap party leader.

On Wednesday, the UDA chairperson said Governor Mutua is free to campaign for DP Ruto in any part of the country, but he and the governor sharing a podium was out of question.

“Mutua can go to any corner of this country and campaign for my presidential candidate and campaign for his candidate also but it is not a must that we dine together. It is not a must that we go together on the same political platform,” said Mr Muthama.

Mr Muthama said the governor must apologise to the people of Machakos County for his 10-year ‘misrule’ if they have to patch up their differences.

 “If we have to work together, he needs to first of all apologise to Machakos people for cheating them,” he said.

Mr Muthama has been questioning the whereabouts of tractors purchased by the county government of Machakos to help in ploughing locals’ farms.

“Show now without fear of contradiction the tractors that you said you bought to be ploughing farms in Machakos. With all those things around Mutua, it was wrong for me to go and say now I’ll start working with this guy,” the UDA chairman told Nation.

Mr Muthama is vying for Machakos governor seat on a UDA ticket while Dr Mutua is campaigning for his deputy Eng Francis Maliti to take over the county’s leadership from him on Maendeleo Chap Chap ticket.