Gusii MPs gang against Matiang’i – Weekly Citizen

William Ruto’s recent tour to the larger Gusii region where he held a major fundraiser for the Seventh Day Adventist church was aimed at taming powerful Interior cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i’s continued emerging influence and factor in local Gusii politics.
It is said that the DP’s camp, in order to clip Matiang’i, has brought on his side local MPs allied to Tanga Tanga movement to counter his growing influence in government. The decision to hold a fundraiser for SDA church was a wellcalculated power game.

Richard Onyonka

The church has following and faithful among members of the community and thus, the DP, in his political calculations, wants to use its network to reach the common voter in the region come 2022 as he oils his machinery campaign to succeed Uhuru Kenyatta.
Ruto has made five consecutive trips in months to the area. On the DP side to handle the Matiang’i factor are Kitutu Masaba MP Shadrack Mose, Ezekiel Machogu, Sylvanus Osoro, Richard Onyonka and Kisii deputy governor Joash Maangi.
Ruto’s other pointman in the region was the late University of Nairobi student leader Samuel Ragira alias OCS who was shot dead in Nairobi in mysterious circumstances.
Currently, Matiang’i does not get on well with majority of Kisii politicians. They accuse him of being arrogant and drunk with power after his recent elevation by president to oversee government development projects.
Further they claim that Matiang’i is protecting Nairobi based lawyer Assa Nyakundi who is accused of shooting his own son dead.
According to them, Nyakundi is supposed to face murder charges but the slow pace the investigations are taking is not only suspect but wanting.

Kitutu Masaba MP, Shadrack Mose

Apart from Matiang’i, the lawyer is said to be related to the Simeon Nyachae, the Gusii politics kingpin and father to Eala legislator Charles Nyachae, who has been spotted visiting Nyakundi at Nairobi Hospital.
Since his appointment as the chairman of cabinet development committee in the cabinet, the MPs claim, Matiang’i has sidelined them and boasts of talking and reporting directly to the head of state, something of which has irritated them.
In fact the MPs have told Ruto that, whenever in the region, he should fear announcing development projects the government wants to undertake in the region in order to outsmart Matiang’i.