On Wednesday morning, December 11, 2019, media reports surfaced that former Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama had declared support for Deputy President William Ruto in his 2022 presidential bid.
Citizen TV and The Standard were among the first to report that Muthama had endorsed Ruto, stating that the firebrand Ukambani politician had argued that Ruto was best suited to lead the country in 2022.
Further reports had it that Muthama, a member of the Kalonzo Musyoka-led Wiper Democratic Movement, had announced a political comeback in the 2022 elections.
However, when contacted by Kenyans.co.ke, Muthama distanced himself from the reports stressing that he had never addressed the matter of his preferred candidate to succeed Uhuru in 2022 in any forum or to journalists.
"Those are baseless reports and I will not be dragged into denying nor confirming as I never uttered such remarks.
"They are generated from the author's own perspective. I am not out of politics. I never lost and I will continue being there. The only thing I said was that I would not stand in the 2017 elections and that's what I did," Muthama argued.
However, the report by The Standard disclosed that Muthama had declared his support for Ruto, stating that he would broker a deal between the DP and Musyoka ahead of 2022 elections.
"I will soon convene a meeting of all elected leaders including MPs and MCAs as well as opinion leaders so that we dialogue over this matter. Our (Kamba’s) political chapter with ODM leader Raila Odinga is closed. We will negotiate with Ruto, Musalia (Musalia) and Moses (Wetangula),” Muthama stated during an interview with a local radio station as quoted by the outlet.
If President Uhuru Kenyatta has not asked MPs to impeach Ruto over widespread allegations of corruption, why should the Kamba community be swayed by corruption tags on the DP by his political haters? Now that Uhuru is retiring, the next President will be either Ruto or Raila Odinga. And as a community, we should do a careful calculation to ensure we do not get lost," Muthama added.
In September 2019, Muthama spoke out against reports which stated that held the opinion that ODM leader Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka needed to retire from active politics. The reports had also alleged that Muthama was unhappy with the handshake and that Odinga should not have agreed to a handshake with President Kenyatta.
“I am the only clean politician in this country and people want to ruin my reputation. I did not say that Raila and Kalonzo should retire from politics. That is false," Muthama informed Kenyans.co.ke.
Muthama and his party leader Kalonzo Musyoka were also reported to have a frosty relationship even though the former senator maintained that the two are okay.
In June 2019, Muthama came out strongly and chastised Makueni governor Kivutha Kibwana, Machakos Alfred Mutua and Kitui's Charity Ngilu for going against Kalonzo.
Muthama in a news report carried by NTV stressed that had Kalonzo listened to him, Mutua and Kibwana would never have been governors and in turn, they would not have gone against the Wiper boss who had propped them up.
