Controversial Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has trashed plans by Kikuyu council of elers to have the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua drop everything and concentrate on reconciling President William Ruto and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta in 2023.
“Our aim is to end the bitter rivalry and divisions witnessed in the run-up to, and during the last elections. We task the deputy president to spearhead the reconciliation process,” Kikuyu Council of Elders Chairman Wachira Wa Kiago said.
Wachira claims that it is their duty to unify leaders and communities across the country adding that Kenya stands develop when the leaders are united.
“We cannot develop as a nation if the three leaders do not make peace and that is why we will prioritize this in 2023,” he added.
But Hon. Barasa has termed the plans as a ‘misguided missile on a wrong target’ arguing that those tasking DP Gachagua to spearhead UhuRuto’s handshake should know that those are not his roles as stipulated in the constitution.
“The call for uniting Uhuru Kenyatta and William Samoei Ruto is a misguided missile on the wrong target,” Barasa said.
The MP said that Gachagua was elected by a majority of Kenyans to implement solutions to the myriads of problems bedeviling hustlers and not reconcile the president with a man who betrayed him and frustrated his efforts of becoming the country’s fifth president.
“Those tasking DP Rigathi Gachagua to spearhead this reconciliation should know that our Deputy President is busy looking for and or implementing solutions to the myriads of problems that millions of Kenyans told us during our economic forums,” Barasa said in a tweet.
The elders who spoke during the New Year’s Eve prayers at the Ol Kalou Arboretum in Nyandarua want DP Gachagua to use his powers to bring Ruto and Uhuru together for the sake of peace and prosperity.
Ruto’s relationship with Uhuru deteriorated during the Jubilee administration’s second term after the former president sought political reconciliation with his then nemesis, Raila Odinga, through the March 2018 Handshake.
Uhuru then used corruption as a political weapon to fight Ruto’s allies including Gachagua himself whose homes were raided and bank accounts frozen.
Relationship between Ruto and Uhuru deteriorated further in the build-up to the hotly contested August 9, presidential election where Uhuru backed William Ruto’s bitter rival Raila Odinga as the best person to succeed him.