University of Nairobi (UoN) lecturer and political analyst Herman Manyora on Saturday, June 20, shared his thoughts on the wrangles in the Jubilee Party and the Thursday, May 21, unveiling of the Jubilee Asili Centre by Deputy President William Ruto.
Manyora noted that by meeting de-whipped Jubilee legislators at the newly-unveilved 'alternative' party centre, Ruto was confronting President Uhuru Kenyatta directly for the first time.
He observed that Uhuru's move to clip Ruto's wings 'in installments' by removing his allies from key positions could haunt him as Ruto had seen his cards.
The UoN don opined that if Ruto was to resign as Deputy President and have Jubilee Asili as a fully-fledged party, he would secure the support of three important groups in his quest for power.
Manyora noted that if Ruto were to attack Uhuru's administration from the outside, he would gain the backing of people who hate the government, civil society and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
These 'progressive forces', Manyora explained, would set aside their reservations about Ruto as they cared more about taking on Uhuru's administration for its alleged misdeeds.
"Your approach towards dealing with William Samoei Ruto may come to haunt you [President Kenyatta], and I am not saying you hit him.
"The worst he can do, and this can very easily happen; suppose Ruto decided to resign and fight you from outside without the encumbrances of government, hitting you directly when he wants or when he has to.
Manyora opined that the pressure from the civil society would ensure Ruto was shielded from prosecution emanating from the Executive.
"Remember there are many people who hate government, and many organisations especially [the] civil society. They would join him to hit at government, you will not even arrest him or take him to court.
"Big lawyers, NGOs and the civil society will come to his defence, and it won't be the first time progressive forces are working with people you don not want to see as clean," he stated.
Offering historical context, Manyora noted that progressive forces who backed the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) in 2002 worked with hitherto Kenya African National Union (KANU) die-hards to defeat former President Daniel Arap Moi's preferred successor Uhuru Kenyatta.
He also noted that when former Prime Minister Raila Odinga ran for President in 2007, he joined hands with 'dubious characters' hoping to remove Mwai Kibaki from power.
Allies of the Deputy President have maintained that they are still members of the Jubilee Party despite the existence of the new centre.
They argued that the centre was unveiled because they had been blocked from accessing the party's Pangani headquarters by Secretary-General Raphael Tuju and Vice-Chair David Murathe.
Murathe has, however, denied that the legislators were blocked from accessing the party's headquarters. He further warned them against using Jubilee symbols if they planned on registering a new party.
Watch Manyora's video below:
