The twin happy birthday messages by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria and Kirinyaga Women Rep Wangui Ngirici stand to be counted out of the flurry of goodwill messages wishing ODM leader Raila Odinga all the best on his 77th birthday celebrations.
Kuria’s best wishes for Raila had a different tone that suggested that DP William Ruto was not a true hustler but a pretender – a message that has left tongues wagging in the region.
Kuria first compared the four days he and his colleagues underwent when they were detained in the Pangani police station in 2015 saying it was nothing compared to nine years Raila was in detention.
”Hate him or love him, irrespective of how the last chapter in his political book ends, this man’s place in the history of this nation is carved in stone. No other living Kenyan has gone through what he has undergone for the sake of our current freedoms. On behalf of the Real Hustlers of this nation, Happy 77th my friend His Earthquakeness Baba, Jakom” Kuria posted.
It now seems Kuria and Ngirici’s messages may have jolted Deputy President William Ruto to follow suit probably as a way of trying to neutralize the mixed signals his immediate staunch supporters were trying to portray.
Through his official Twitter account, Ruto sent his birthday message to the former Prime Minister, saying that he will be blessed with many more years.
However, the timing and quick succession of the unfolding events has raised eyebrows among DP’s Mt Kenya allies who now see a wider scheme aimed at countering UDA gains in the mountain.
This comes amid fears of looming UDA defections in Mt Kenya following President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s win in Parliament on the hotly contested Political Parties Amendment bill.
A source has intimated to News Today the DP’s Mt Kenya allies were so much irked by the defeat in Parliament and Ngirici’s post that they were forced to convene a meeting at the home of one Muranga MPs in Kahawa Sukari along Thika Superhighway to take stock on the latest developments in the mountain.
In the meeting the source said those in attendance agreed the passage of the Bill is likely to be used against UDA allies who have been branded ‘traitors’ of the region’s fight for a democratic space post-Uhuru presidency.
The meeting that went into the middle of the night deliberated on how to counter the onslaughts by both Kuria and Ngirici – who are well known political mobilizers in the region who are now reading from a different political script.
“The reality is slowly sinking on UDA-allied Mt Kenya MPs that President Uhuru still calls the shots in the region and is set to be around until he ensures the region speaks with one voice. Do not take Ngirici and Kuria’s statements lightly but they are a sign of bigger things that are slowly taking shape,” noted Peter Thairu a Ruiru-based political commentator.
It is not lost on observers that Mt Kenya UDA-allied MPs are yet to come to terms with the implications of Ngirici’s defection from the party as she now appears determined to deconstruct the gains made by Ruto not only in her native Kirinyaga but in the region.
Her Thursday birthday message to Odinga raised eyebrows online, with a section of netizens speculating that she had joined the pro-Kenyatta and Odinga’s side. “Happy 77th Birthday Jakom,” Ngirici captioned a picture of Raila Odinga.
The message caused a stir on social media after it attracted over 4,000 comments in less than an hour.
To further set the tone in the renewed war against UDA, Kieni MP caused a storm online with a rhetoric question after Ngirici’s message to Raila.
“The beginning of the end was yesterday, It’s just a matter of time. Mass Exodus, Hon Ngirici set the pace “who’s next?”
Going by the over 500 hundreds comments that followed it is clear the wheelbarrow party is headed for turbulent times in the mountain.
Robert Njuguna commented “Tunavuna February Hon Alice Wahome is next,”
Wambui Kamau chipped in “Seriously Ruto is losing each day, he started early and people got bored with his daily chorus,”
Then Paul Njoroge commented “ Kanini Kega, Gov Kimemia, Ndiritu, Sabina Chege, Wambugu Ngunjiri and many others have set the standards bar,”
After losing the past presidential elections to President Kenyatta in 2013 and 2017, Odinga is running this year on an Azimio La Umoja ticket in what is promising to be a do-or-die battle pitting him and main opponent Deputy President William Ruto.
