This archive report was first published on 15 November 2019.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's Sagana Lodge meeting with over 3,000 leaders from the Mount Kenya region has left Deputy President William Ruto out in the cold. The meeting, held on November 15, 2019, was a significant event in the region, with the President seeking to unite the community behind his 'handshake' bid with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
According to sources, DP Ruto had initially planned to attend the Inua Mama meeting in Nyeri on the same day but changed his mind to attend the President's Sagana meeting. However, he received no invitation to the event, leaving him with no option but to cancel his Nyeri meeting.
Speaking to the press, Nyeri County Women Representative Rahab Mukami explained that she had to cancel the Inua Mama meeting to attend the President's event, stating, 'I had to shelve the meeting to go listen to the president.'
DP Ruto's close ally, Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri, defended the Deputy President's decision to cancel his Nyeri meeting, blaming officials from the President's office for arranging the event without considering the clash with the President's meeting in Sagana.
Kimani Ngunjiri stated, 'Kuna wakora huko Office of the President (OP) who planned the event bearing in mind that another is on course. The DP has always kept off and joined the president in his function. In this one, every constituency will take 20 people and the DP is not invited.'
