Ruto in fiery meeting with Western leaders before Cabinet reshuffle

Hours before President William Ruto shuffled his Cabinet, a high level delegation of leaders from western Kenya held a meeting to try and shield their most prominent peers from the chopping board.

The Standard has established that, during the meeting where tempers flared, the leaders sought assurances that the seat of the National Assembly Speaker held by Moses Wetang’ula was insulated from advances by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which has been staking a claim on it. 

Multiple sources told The Standard the leaders also wanted the place of the Luhya community in the Kenya Kwanza administration to be solidified.

The early morning Wednesday meeting at  State House between President Ruto and the leaders from Western Kenya came hours before a Cabinet reshuffle that saw CS Deborah Baraza uprooted from the Health ministry and installed in the Environment docket.

It had been convened to address concerns raised by the leaders in the wake of ODM’s growing influence in Ruto’s  broad-based government.

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In attendance were Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, Speaker Wetang’ula and Cabinet Secretaries Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and MSMEs) and Debora Barasa.  Governors Fernandes Barasa (Kakamega), Kenneth Lusaka (Bungoma) and Paul Otuoma (Busia) as well as Members of Parliament were also present. 

Sources revealed that tempers flared during the meeting as Kakamega Senator Bonnie Khalwale pressed President Ruto to give the members present an assurance that the speaker’s seat was “secure” and that Wetang’ula would remain the Speaker in the wake of a bid by Azimio MPs to oust him.

Speaker’s seat

The influential Speaker’s seat has been in the crosshairs of Azimio MPs ever since a court ruling declared them the majority in the National Assembly and what they term as a refusal by Wetang’ula to acknowledge and implement the same.

And despite Ruto’s intervention that saw ODM handed the leadership of key committees traditionally held by government, in a bid to get the Raila Odinga led troops to drop their demands, the leaders yesterday sought a verbal assurance from President Ruto that Wetang’ula would not be subjected to a purge currently sweeping across Parliament. This, the sources said, was in fidelity to the pact between the region and the President.

“The meeting was very productive because we got to get a verbal assurance from the President that we are firmly in government. About the speaker’s seat, the President confirmed that it was not going to be taken away from Wetang’ula and that he would remain the speaker even as he(Ruto) continues to entrench his broad based agenda,” said an MP who was in attendance of the meeting.

“The assurance came by way of Kakamega Senator Bonnie Khalwale who confronted the President head on and bluntly put the question to him whether we leaders from the region should brace for the seat being given to ODM party. At some point, he appeared to have gone overboard with his demand prompting the President to remind him that whereas he (Khalwale) is older, Ruto was still the President and he should calm down,” the MP added.

Another source who attended  the meeting intimated that the President urged the delegation to ignore naysayers as he intended to go on sustaining their political pact. Alluding to statements made across various social media platform indicating that Wetangula’s time was nigh, he urged them to “ignore social media talk.”

“A large section of leaders came from the meeting pleased with Khalwale and further satisfied that the working relationship with the Head of State would continue,” he added.

Earlier in the day, talk had been rife that the meeting at State House had been called to pacify the Western Kenya leaders ahead of the looming Cabinet changes.

Pundits argued that President Ruto had moved to arrest any fallout that would follow his decision to transfer CS Barasa from the Health docket to the Environment and Forestry ministry. But those in the meeting confirmed that the issue of CS Barasa’s transfer did not feature in the talks.  Hours later, the source said, they were equally shocked and caught flat footed just like every other Kenyan after learning of the changes.

“The reports doing rounds that I will be removing CS Deborah from the Ministry of Health are false. She is someone that I have full confidence and trust,” Ruto is said to have responded to a question by Khalwale.

With the meeting coming after the President’s extensive tour of the Western region, Ruto emphasized the it was key in accelerating the implementation of the country’s national development agenda, ensuring no region is left behind.

Notably, key leaders from the Western region who have been branded government critics were also left out of the meeting. They include Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, Saboti MP Caleb Amisi, Mumias East MP Peter Salasya and Senator Okiyah Omtatah.

“The President challenged us to stop behaving like we are still in the opposition and behave like people in government,” added the source.

“Our agenda with the President was only one, it was development. We discussed the construction of roads and key infrastructure that would increase the productivity of our region and the country,” Sirisia MP John Waluke, who was in the meeting, said.

 “The President was very categorical that the priority would be the completion of stalled projects before embarking on new ones,” added Waluke.

Amisi confirmed  he had not been invited to the State House meeting,  dismissing the frequent meetings that Ruto had held with the Western leaders as unproductive.

“I have lost count on the number of times the President has had meetings with Luhya MPs. But what I am yet to count is any single project initiated in courtesy of these meetings.” he said.