President Uhuru Kenyatta has for long been known to interact well with leaders especially those that were elected on a Jubilee Party ticket.
Despite having been political allies traversing the nation in a vote hunt for the presidential race in 2017, President Kenyatta seemingly moved away from some of the former close allies who were successfully elected under the ruling party banner.
Top on the reasons for dumping the three leaders appears to be their links to graft cases, as the president moved to secure his legacy leading an upfront battle to weed out corrupt individuals in national and county governments.
Ferdinand Waititu
The former Kiambu governor clinched the party primaries in 2017 with a storm, trouncing his predecessor William Kabogo with a large margin, forcing the incumbent to vie for the top county job on an independent ticket, but still lost.
In an article by The Standard in April 2017, Kabogo accepted the nomination results that saw Waititu garner 353,604 votes against Kabogo’s 69,916.
The massive win by Waititu who now carried the Jubilee flag in the president’s county brought him closer to Uhuru, always accompanying him during the campaign trails.
Waititu’s woes began in May 2019, when Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission detectives arrested him on in connection to a case that also involved his wife Susan.
President Uhuru Kenyatta turned against the governor ensuring they hardly met where he also made sure that they never had a public appearance together.
In March 2019 during the burial of businessman Thayu Kamau, President Kenyatta scolded Waititu for his call on a slow down on the fight against graft.
Kenyatta stated that no one would be spared in the graft war as the country forged on against the vice that dragged the country behind.
Mike Sonko
The Nairobi governor can easily be remembered as a former close ally of the president who always brought pomp and colour at the campaign trails and for the first time, helped Kenyatta’s party clinch the city gubernatorial position.
He would often call the president on his personal line in a show of how close they were.
However, his rift with President Kenyatta started after his arrest by EACC detectives on corruption charges in December 2019.
Even after Sonko’s release on bail, he ostensibly kept away from the key functions that were attended by the president, one of them being the governor's summit at State House on Friday, February 22.
The major public appearance by Sonko was during former president Daniel Moi’s burial on February 13 where he visibly maintained a low presence at the national function.
Moses Lenolkulal
The Samburu governor won the Samburu gubernatorial seat for the second time in August 2017 on a Jubilee Party ticket.
According to an article by The Standard, Lenolkulal placed himself as a force to reckon with while campaigning for the Jubilee Party in the North Rift.
His win came as a great achievement after his neighbouring counties saw Jubilee Party candidates lose with ODM’s Josphat Nanok winning in Turkana whereas KANU’s John Lonyangapuo won in West Pokot.
In April 2019, Lenolkulal was arrested for the loss of Ksh2 billion at Samburu County.
According to Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji, investigations established that Lenolkulal had been trading with the county government through Oryx Service Station for the supply of fuel since March 27, 2013.
During the meeting with governors at State House on Friday, February 21, Lenolkulal, like Sonko, was absent in the discussions to deliberate on how to foster development in the counties.
