Zack Kinuthia: I will never betray Uhuru, Raila for this ‘Herod’ government

As Mt Kenya politicians gang up against retired President Uhuru Kenyatta in an apparent plot to strip him of influence in the area, former Sports Chief Administrative Secretary Zack Kinuthia says he will be the last man standing.

So committed is Mr Kinuthia to guarding Mr Kenyatta against the effects of betrayal that he has become a regular political commentator on Kameme TV.

It is on this station owned by Mr Kenyatta that Mr Kinuthia has been giving his opinions on political affairs since Dr William Ruto was sworn in as the fifth Head of State.

So passionate about the course is Mr Kinuthia that his microphone had to be switched off recently as he tore into former Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri for supporting President Ruto.

"It is not right to abandon Mr Kenyatta for no justifiable reason, and even if you must detach yourself from him, let it be peaceful. The very people he built in politics are now rushing to the Biblical Herod government in droves and making all manners of noise," he said at the time.

The Holy Bible depicts Herod as a monstrous King who tried to kill baby Jesus (believed to be the Christians' Messiah). When he couldn't find him, he resorted to killing every male infant in Bethlehem.

The king is also captured executing his three sons after he suspected them of plotting to assassinate him.

Mr Kinuthia, who resigned from his CAS post to contest for the Kigumo parliamentary seat said: "Mr Kenyatta remains the epitome of conscious leadership".

So far, nearly all of Mr Kenyatta's allies from Mt Kenya have decamped to President Ruto's side, save for Martha Karua, Jeremiah Kioni, David Murathe and now, Mr Kinuthia.

Mr Kinuthia said he cannot betray Mr Kenyatta and will not speak ill of Mr Raila Odinga "since it is hypocritical, selfish, petty and a grand expression of zero principles in pursuance of just causes".

Mr Kenyatta backed Mr Odinga in his bid for State House in the August 9, 2022, General Election.

Mr Kinuthua further dismissed those decamping into the ruling Kenya Kwanza Alliance as “only guided by selfish interests, not genuine concern for the Mt Kenya people".

He said that "if they were genuine, they would have complained of double taxation, where this bad government is taxing us at the manufacturing zone and again at the retail outlet".

The politician added that taxing production and consumption is tantamount to double taxation, a fallacy he said "these people now drunk with love for President Ruto, to a point of suffering shrunken brain [an inability] to determine the bad and the good, won't dare pose to evaluate".

Mr Kinuthia said he was in Azimio by belief and will stick to its doctrines to the end, "continuing to speak out about the evils that will never do us any good as a people and as a country".

He added that “the way King Herod confiscated property belonging to those he believed did not support his rule is the very version manifest with this regime".

The ex-CAS went on to say that the confiscation of the wealth of the hostile Jewish upper classes made King Herod exceedingly rich and provided him with funds to pay for the continued goodwill of his Roman overlord.

He took exception with the recent declaration by Deputy President Mr Rigathi Gachagua that "those who were supporting Azimio in Mt Kenya were con men".

"This man takes every opportunity to disparage us. He sees a microphone in a public forum and what comes to his mind is to insult the Azimio people. He is a Deputy President of insults," Mr Kinuthia said.

Accompanying President William Ruto to Siaya County where they attended ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo's homecoming, Mr Gachagua narrated how he had tipped Siaya Governor James Orengo about the August polls.

"Mr Orengo and I have a history. My getting arrested did not start with the Uhuru Kenyatta regime. It has been routine and Orengo has been acting as my lawyer in many of those arrests," Mr Gachagua said.

He added that: "I warned Mr Orengo that all those individuals from Mt Kenya who were campaigning for Mr Odinga were con men".

Mr Kinuthia added that when Mr Gachagua is in the Mt Kenya region, he specialises in throwing barbs at Mr Odinga and his followers.

"It has reached a point where we want Mr Gachagua to overcome his obsession with Uhuru and us in Azimio. He has even insulted me twice on TV. A Deputy President should be more uniting than he is divisive. He should back down from too much bile against us," he said.

At 33 years of age, Mr Kinuthia exhibits all the signs of a political firebrand in the making.

He says he will forever remain grateful and indebted to Mr Kenyatta for having faith in young leadership, “as proven by the many youths he packed in many offices of his administration.”

Mr Kinuthia further said he is also happy that Mr Odinga and the former president found that magic that stilled negative politics after the 2017 election, to enable Kenyans to enjoy peace, through the March 2018 handshake”.

He added that Mr Kenyatta remained a true democrat whose first duty was to pursue stability and prosperity especially in, favour of the mountain people.

Mr Kinuthia said his mindset is a product of his strict upbringing and that discipline is the reason for his successes so far.

He said if his single mother had spared the rod as she struggled to mould him, he would have ended up being “just another ordinary hooligan in the society”.

"Thanks to an uncompromising mother--Ms Lucy Mugure-- who for every mischief I executed gave me a serious spanking, insisting to my teachers that the cane and I were like Siamese twins, I was shaped for greatness," he said.

Mr Kinuthia attended Gaichanjiru High School, which is in Kandara Sub County, and joined the University of Nairobi in 2010.

That is how he ended up pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science, his peers insisting he was born a leader. In 2013, he was elected chairman of the Students of Nairobi University (Sonu).

During his reign as Sonu boss, he is reputed as having reclaimed the image of the student fraternity from one of riots, chaos and hooliganism.

"I achieved this by identifying the main institutional triggers of the uprisings, stilling the animal in the students by diplomatically engaging top decision makers. Together, we managed to recalibrate the students’ relationship with the university management, the Higher Education Loans Board and the Ministry of Education," he said.

He also noted that he was an active member of the Christian union and later became the congregation's leader.

Currently, he is pursuing a law degree at the same University.

Mr Kinuthia’s mother said she saw his potential "but the horizons with which it came to be manifest have simply dismayed me”.

"It is out of this son that the very police officers I used to work for as a casual labourer today congratulate me for work well done in educating him. It is through this son that I'm referred to as Mheshimiwa's mother and I shook the President's hand through the honour of my son," she said.

She has met and hosted Cabinet secretaries who served in Mr Kenyatta's government included the then Interior CS Fred Matiang'i, Transport's James Macharia, Sports' Amina Mohamed and the late George Magoha, who was in charge of the Education ministry.

It was during his campus chairmanship that Mr Kinuthia got involved in the 2013 presidential elections, joining the UhuRuto camp.

His reward came seven years later  - on January 15, 2020 - when he was appointed CAS in the Education Ministry, working with Prof Magoha. He was transferred to the Sports ministry on February 17, 2021.

The father of two now says he has gained enough experience of government operations, lobbying for development and resource use.

“I consider myself ripe to serve the country even though for now I have faltered,” he said.

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