Following the Naivasha meeting of Tanga Tanga-allied MPs where they vowed to chart their own political path by organizing parallel Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) rallies, President Uhuru Kenyatta responded immediately by summoning his deputy, William Ruto.
At their meeting, which according to sources lasted several hours, President Kenyatta is said to have told DP Ruto to his face to stop insubordination as well as frustrating his efforts to unite Kenyans.
“He (Uhuru) told the DP that if he thought he was going to stop him from working with Raila in the unity bid he was daydreaming,” the source told People Daily.
The President used the meeting to express his displeasure with Ruto’s “outright rebellious conduct” and opposition to his commitment to work with the opposition to unite Kenyans.
Speaking a day later in Nakuru County where he launched a cement factory, President Kenyatta stuck to his Monday tone with the Deputy President and the Tanga Tanga MPs.
“I will not be shaken. That is the position I have taken and I will move forward in that direction. I want to ensure Kenyans enjoy peace during elections every five years,” he said.
Since the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga (Orange Democratic Movement leader), the two Jubilee leaders appear to be reading from different scripts as Uhuru focus on legacy projects and Ruto guns for the presidency.
The backdrop of the Uhuru-Ruto meeting at State House, Nairobi, was the Sunday night meeting of the pro-Ruto side of the Jubilee Party.
After the Naivasha meeting, the over 170 MPs vowed to hold their own BBI meetings in defiance of the President’s plea for unity.
Before the meeting, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, who dubbed the gathering a Jubilee Parliamentary Group meeting, said that their agenda was to plan 2022 politics.
On Tuesday, sources intimated to People Daily that it was the parallel BBI meetings that angered the President who immediately summoned Ruto to stop the perceived rebellion.
