Details have emerged on how a vicious disagreement between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto led to the endorsement of Justin Muturi as the candidate for National Assembly Speaker.
Muturi’s personal assistant Joseph Mathai on Thursday, July 21, revealed that the differences between Uhuru and Ruto started in 2013 as they both had different ideas on the leadership of the National Assembly.
According to Mathai, Uhuru and his allies vouched for former Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Mohammed while Ruto’s camp pushed for the nomination of the current nominated MP Jennifer Shamala.
"JB Muturi's nomination for the position of the speaker was a product of a disagreement between the president and his deputy. Murathe (David), Njee (Muturi), and the President (Uhuru) were vouching for Abdikaadir Mohammed while Ruto was in support of Jennifer Shamalla,” Muturi's long term aide stated.
Mathai, who previously served as TNA Executive Director, claimed that some of Uhuru's aides were very vocal in discouraging his boss from the speakership race.
"When Muturi announced his intention to vie for speakership, the first person to discourage him was Murathe who argued that the Embu politician has not contributed much towards Uhuru’s victory in the 2013 elections," he narrated.
The disagreement prompted Uhuru and Ruto to consider a neutral candidate and thus Muturi’s name emerged as Jubilee Coalitions’s candidate. According to Mathai, Amina Abdalla - a former member of parliament played the intermediary role between Uhuru and Ruto which subsequently led to the two teams settling for Muturi.
Muturi went on to win the speaker’s elections in the National Assembly ahead of Coalition For Reforms and Democracy-CORD’s Kenneth Marende.
Mathai’s statement was a rejoinder to David Murathe’s earlier claims - accusing Muturi of betraying Uhuru despite the President's goodwill to his lifelong friend.
Mathai disputed Murathe's statement that Muturi had been elevated from a desperate point - arguing that the speaker had played an integral role in Uhuru's rise to power through the Uhuru Kenyatta Center.
He further defended Muturi's decision to campaign for Ruto - arguing that the DP party leader had paid back the endorsement during his term as the speaker.
"We need to look at his performance. He delayed his move until he delivered his budget. He has done his role to deliver legislative agenda of the Jubilee government and that is why and that is why some of the things that the president needed passed in parliament were never sabotaged," Mathai stated.
