Successors of Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto are panicking as President Uhuru Kenyatta serves his last term. Sources close to the deputy president say that relations between the two principals of the Jubilee party are tense and it could be related to succession.
“When Kenyatta announced new cabinet secretaries, Ruto was not present, a marked departure from the past. Kenyatta is also heard using the word I instead of We as he used to to signify cooperation between him and his deputy,” one source who declined to be named told this newspaper.
Prior to the election last year, rumors were rife that politicians from Mount Kenya (Kikuyu region) want Peter Kenneth to succeed Kenyatta instead of Ruto. This contravenes a pre-election pact that the two leaders (Kenyatta and Ruto) made before stand as running mates in 2013. The agreement provided for automatic succession of Kenyatta by Ruto. It also implored Kenyatta to back Ruto after his two terms were over.
According to a close supporter of President Uhuru Kenyatta, the president has no intention of reneging on his deal with Ruto.
“UK is a gentleman, as we have all seen for the last five years. He is not the type to go against an agreement of this nature,” Isaac Kamau said.
The politics of successions is complicated in Kenya as the heavy influence on ethnicity on the politics means whoever becomes president has to balance key ethnic constituencies.
