Ruto worships in his ‘most favourite’ Kandara constituency
President William Ruto.
President William Ruto is this morning in Kandara constituency situated in Murang’a County, the only constituency the Head of State has picked two Cabinet Secretaries from.
These are area MP Alice Wahome for the Water and Sanitation docket and Prof Njuguna Ndung’u for the National Treasury.
The two are neighbours in Muruka and Ruchu wards respectively.
Ms Wahome said “we will be welcoming our president to his stronghold and all both elected and non-elected leaders will show up to welcome him.”
Prof Ndung’u said: “Dr Ruto will be home, among his people and in a county that solidly supports him and his government”.
Among the prayer items slotted include dedicating Karigu-ini blackspot that has claimed more than 100 lives in the past three years, rain, peace and prosperity.
“Dr Ruto is a widely acknowledged prayerful man and we have no reason to doubt that God listens and answers to his prayers…For were it not the case, he would have not become the president”.
“Given the immense opposition that was against him and he managed to beat them all, him praying for our black spot and other challenges gives us more hope of getting heard at the throne of mercy,” said Bishop Faith Njoki of the Baptists Church in Kairi.
This is the constituency in which on March 6, 2020 Trade and Industry CS Mr Moses Kuria had sensationally claimed that there were plans to assassinate Dr Ruto who then was the Deputy President to Uhuru Kenyatta.
It had happened that Dr Ruto was touring the area’s Kinyoho Secondary School for a fundraiser and the then area governor Mr Mwangi Wa Iria had attempted to disrupt the function.
Mr Wa Iria supporters were confronted by both Ms Wahome’s and Dr Ruto supporters, the elite squad that was in attendance also getting involved.
It was the day grown up men from Wa Iria’s side were seen getting tossed in the air like a ball in a volleyball game, leaving area MCA Patrick Mutahi in a very bad shape and where he was admitted into Nairobi hospital.
Ms Wahome in defense and articulating of her faith to Dr Ruto’s his presidential bid, branded Wa Iria as commander in chief of county goons.
Mr Wa Iria hit back saying he was only protecting the name and stature of the president from getting stained through reckless politics “imported into my county”.
The fallout between President Kenyatta and Dr Ruto was gaining definite shape and the ruling Jubilee Party had split into the Tangatanga and Kieleweke teams.
The fighting lasted some 20 minutes and when the drums of war had gone silent, tens were nursing injuries and were admitted to hospitals in Murang’a, Thika and Nairobi. Other politicians who had attended the chaotic meeting were Mr Rigathi Gachagua (then Mathira MP but now Deputy President) and Mr Kuria.
“It is my considered view after reflecting on what happened at Kinyoho Secondary School in Kandara that Mr Wa Iria was not acting alone. He was to create a situation that would have precipitated something very nasty,” Kuria had written on his Facebook page, claiming that the plot was to “assassinate Dr Ruto”.
No politician was called upon to record statement regarding the chaos, no arrest was made and those injured silently healed and went home.
Dr Ruto will be worshiping about two kilometres from Kenol town where on October 4, 2020 two lads were lynched when his supporters clashed with those of Mr Kenyatta.
Dr Ruto was scheduled to attend a church function but supporters of the president were opposed to his presence. In the ensuing street battles that erupted, Peter Mbothu 15 and Christopher Kariuki 21 were left stabbed and clobbered to death, Dr Ruto describing the situation as “sponsored shame” and Kenyatta’s supporters terming it as “imported violence”.
No suspect was ever arrested and Murang’a South senior security officers were transferred following a public outcry after several teargas canisters were lobbed into the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa (AIPCA) church coupled with the two deaths.
It is this same constituency where Mr Kenyatta had visited on April 14, the day Dr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) was holding its party primaries.
Mr Kenyatta had by then made it clear that he was opposed to Dr Ruto succeeding him and was pulling all stops to undermine him and his UDA party in favour of Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party’s presidential aspirant, Mr Raila Odinga.
As Dr Ruto supporters voted in Kandara in the primaries, Mr Kenyatta was at the AIPCA church in Kandara fuming from all openings.
He roared that “I will soon take the succession battle to the doorsteps of those competing with me…those I have for a whole now been watching silently as they brag, insult and threaten me to remain aloof in campaigning for Mr Odinga”.
“Go threaten your equals or those who are ready to buy your intimidations...you got no ability to box me into submissiveness," he said.
He reiterated that his vision was then fixated on the search for unity and prosperity of the nation and her people, into the future adding that "whether you like it or not, I am here, we are here, going nowhere and our plot must succeed."
At the time, the Jubilee Party that Mr Kenyatta led was in a fierce battle with UDA for the political soul of the region.
Speaking cryptically, Mr Kenyatta said “Satan never sleeps as he roams in search of people to collide. That is why even as they insult me, I keep quiet...but whether they like it or not, I will deliver this country to its desired peace and prosperity."
But Ms Wahome in a quick rejoinder hit out at Mr Kenyatta dismissing him as “engaging in a project of vanity and futility”.
"We thought he was coming to tell us when he would honour his 2007 promise of building us a Sh500 Million hospital to be named after our departed freedom hero, Bildad Kaggia. We also have about 100 kilometres of roads that are pending and which he had promised us," she said.
Ms Wahome said the president had the right to campaign and vote for his political choices "but I also caution him on the possible consequences especially if the people rebel against him and refuse to accord him heroic status in his retirement."
And when the vote was called, Dr Ruto swept Mt Kenya region votes at 84 percent, whitewashing Jubilee and Azimio by winning 97 percent of contested seats.
In Murang’a County, Dr Ruto garnered 272, 868 (78 percent) of votes validly cast with Mr Odinga getting 76,009 votes (22 percent.)
