Uhuru silent as top politicians invoke his name for own good

Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta continues to cast a shadow in the political landscape.

Although Uhuru has been largely out of the limelight, his name continues to dominate political discourse.

The opposition still looks up to him for inspiration since he is the patron of the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition, a formation cobbled up in the runup to the 2022 General Election. 

However, to the majority in the ruling Kenya Kwanza coalition, Uhuru has remained a thorn in their fresh and perfect scapegoat when people protest against the government.

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Some leaders close to President William Ruto even linked him, without evidence, to recent youth demonstrations.

But to Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Uhuru was initially stumbling to his claim of legitimacy as the undisputed leader of Mt Kenya region.

Of late, however, Gachagua, facing growing opposition from some leaders in his party, has used his name to endear himself

The DP has been publicly proclaiming that he had reached out to the former President and his family, who have allegedly forgiven him for attacking them after taking over leadership. 

On Tuesday, ODM leader Raila Odinga claimed that Uhuru had called and advised him to reach out to President Ruto to save the country following street protests.

 "When the country was burning, Uhuru called and told me to look for Ruto and speak to him; if the country burns, we won't have another.it was a must we extinguish the fire for people to understand each other,” said Raila at the  burial of Chirchir Masit, father to the exiled former IEBC commissioner Irene Masit.

Masit fled the country after she was accused, together with other commissioners, of trying to overturn President Ruto's victory in favour of Raila.

Together with Juliana Cherera, Francis Wanderi and Justus Nyang'aya, Masit was suspended by the President on December 2, 2022, describing them as rogue.Despite the attacks and the defense by the government agents, Uhuru has maintained his calm, even when his Northlands Farm was invaded last year.

Changing narratives

But it is not Raila alone who has traded with Uhuru’s name for political survival. Ruto accused Uhuru of funding protests last year in a move that provoked the retired President to accuse the administration of targeting his family.

On July 21 last year, Uhuru came out in public for the first time after the 2022 elections after the police raided his home, claiming his son was in possession of weapons.

He refuted the claims, wondering if the accusations came about because of his association with Raila.

"Am I not supposed to talk to my friends? Is that a crime in Kenya today? Maybe you should tell me. Have you seen me in any of those events (protests)? Have you seen me talk about any of those events?"

During the recent youth protests, Uhuru and some Mt Kenya tycoons and politicians were accused of funding them, only for Ruto to change the narrative, pointing the finger at the Ford Foundation.

Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua and Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni also invoked Uhuru’s name in May 17 when they organised the Limuru III conference and named him the patron of their new outfit, Thai coalition.

The coalition, which brought together about 31 small political parties with roots from Mt Kenya, was meant to push for the region’s agenda

"Now therefore, we, the people of Mt Kenya region do hereby, solemnly resolve that we shall work toward uniting the region in all the three thematic areas, political, economic, and socio-cultural," the resolutions read. 

Despite the attacks and the defense by the government agents, Uhuru has maintained his calm, even when his Northlands Farm was invaded last year.

The Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka describes the move as "the power of positive silence", saying although he could not speak for Uhuru, he knew he was a very important personality in Kenya's political situation.

“On the matter of Uhuru calling Raila over the broad-based government, I may not know whether it is true or not but as Azimio family, we are not privy to such information. I know he can articulate things in his most appropriate time but his strength is in his silence,” he says.

Karua, however, describes Raila’s claims as "diversionary tactic" as she expressed doubts over Uhuru’s hand in Ruto-Raila deal, wondering why Uhuru did not forward his choice of Cabinet Secretary nominees for consideration.

“Let him formalise ODM’s relationship to the Kenya Kwanza regime by entering into a post election coalition and vacating all minority seats to allow our checks and balances and our democracy to function,” says the Narc Kenya leader.

Kioni terms Raila’s remarks as desperation, claiming Raila had fallen to the same trap where the Kenya Kwanza administration used Uhuru’s name in the "horrible attempts to manipulate the public".

“He has left it to the people themselves, to judge between him and others who have been telling the truth or a lie and he has never ever wanted anybody to defend him, to leave alone himself. He has been restraining us from defending him. And that has become his biggest weapon,” says Kioni.

Principals' warning

He claims that Raila, having known that Uhuru would not come back to state the truth, had dragged his name "to explain his very desperate, very untimely, very ill-advised decision to join Ruto."

“And what it continues to tell us is that as leader he is very different from what we have been seeing.”

Kioni says Uhuru has not been involved in Azimio summit meetings, but that did not stop the principles from warning Raila.

“We, the Azimio leaders, are the ones who are informing Uhuru what is happening. We are the ones informing him that these people are joining the government and he was puzzled. Uhuru's major concern was the deaths of innocent youths shot by the police during protests and the demolitions that were conducted in the middle of the night. That did not mean or allow any of us to join the government.”