President William Ruto is returning to the Mt Kenya region without five of his key political pillars who campaigned for him during the last General Election.

They are former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, former Cabinet Secretaries Moses Kuria, Justin Muturi, Mithika Linturi, and Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.

Gachagua, who Ruto chose as his running mate “because he is a gifted ground mobilizer,” was impeached last October amid accusations of tribalism and incompetence.

During the 2022 election campaigns, Gachagua spent much of his time in the Mt Kenya region attacking then-President Uhuru Kenyatta and his preferred successor, Raila Odinga.

Gachagua went to great lengths to paint an unsavory picture of the Uhuru-Raila alliance, to the advantage of his party candidate, Ruto.

However, as Ruto begins his political tour in Mt Kenya tomorrow, Gachagua is left on the sidelines, while Raila now occupies a central role in the Kenya Kwanza administration.

Before Ruto and Muturi’s fallout, which led to Muturi’s sacking last week, the former National Assembly Speaker, former Attorney General, and former CS for Public Service, was considered a valuable political asset for the President in the Mt Kenya region.

Muturi, a long-time political ally of Uhuru, jumped ship and joined Ruto ahead of the last election.

Muturi, who served as Speaker of the National Assembly during the 10 years of Uhuru’s presidency, accused the then-President of using coercion and removing Ruto’s allies from House committees without giving them a chance to defend themselves.

“You don’t just wake up and say we are throwing you out. You are out in the cold. That is dictatorship,” he said on September 16, 2021.

He was referring to the replacement of Majority Leader Aden Duale and Majority Whip Benjamin Washiali by Uhuru’s allies, Amos Kimunya and Emmanuel Wangwe, respectively.

Linturi’s regret

Linturi, who was rewarded by Ruto with the Agriculture docket after enduring what he claimed were politically motivated lawsuits during Uhuru’s reign, is also no longer on good terms with the President.

When they were close allies, Ruto defended Linturi against sexual assault charges, saying they were maliciously fabricated by Uhuru.

At the height of the Gen Z protests last year, Ruto defended Linturi, who was accused of orchestrating the fertiliser scandal. He later dropped Linturi from the Cabinet without providing reasons.

In October last year, Linturi, like Gachagua, publicly regretted entering into a political alliance with Ruto before signing a formal agreement.

He warned Deputy President Kithure Kindiki against blindly trusting Ruto.

“Today, I regret that when everyone else was negotiating using political parties and signing agreements, Gachagua and I said no, let us proceed because we believe and trust you (Ruto),” he said last year.

Linturi played a critical role in mobilizing support for Ruto in Meru during the 2022 election campaigns.

“We have worked so hard, and the only thing I regret is that we did not negotiate using a political party and sign agreements,” he lamented.

Kuria, who served in two ministerial dockets before being relegated to Ruto’s amorphous council of economic advisors, is among the politicians who worked tirelessly to wrest the Mt Kenya region from Uhuru’s grip.

On December 31, 2018, Kuria accused Uhuru of launching development projects in other parts of the country while neglecting his home turf.

“Mimi nataka kusema hivi, tukifungua mwaka wa 2019 nyinyi mfikirie sana. Sisi mambo yetu ni kupiga kura, baada ya kupiga kura maendeleo tunapatiana kwingine,” (This is what I want to say: as we usher in 2019, we must think very seriously. Our job is to vote, and then afterwards development goes to other areas),” he said.

On January 4, 2023, Ruto described his then Trade CS Kuria as a good professional. “Moses Kuria, when he is not a politician, is a very serious professional,” he said in a joint media interview.

Kuria was later moved from the Trade Ministry to the Public Service Ministry, before being sacked at the fever pitch of the Finance Bill protests last year.

The Standard has learned that Kuria, despite serving as one of Ruto’s many advisors on the economy, will not accompany the President during his Mt Kenya tour.

Nyoro was once among Ruto’s most trusted insiders. At one time, the President declared that he would mentor him for bigger things in politics. He hailed Nyoro as a visionary young man with a bright political future.

Use and dump

But in the past few months, the relationship seems to have deteriorated so much so the Kiharu MP was early this month removed from the perch of the powerful National Assembly’s committee on Budget and Appropriations. Recently, the second-term MP, who once referred to Ruto as his mentor, disclosed that they had not spoken in months.

“For clarity, the last discussion I had with the President, political or otherwise, was before October last year,” he said in an interview with the media last week.

Charles Njoroge, a political analyst, says it will be interesting to see how Ruto navigates the political hurdles in Mt Kenya without these five key political figures.

“Most of them enjoy a huge influence and have a massive following, while Ruto’s remaining loyalists lack charisma,” observes Njoroge.

Other pundits describe Ruto’s fallout with his former close allies as emblematic of Kenya’s politics, where betrayal is currency.

“This explains the character of our political class. They embrace the ‘use and dump’ tactics and do not possess the virtue of tolerance,” says Prof. Gitile Naituli.