The true story – Weekly Citizen

The quarrel between William Ruto and Taita Taveta governor Granton Samboja has left tongues wagging. Hitherto perceived political – even business – buddies, the simmering barrage of attacks either way of the divide points at high profile fallout typical of Kenyan politics.
The million dollar question is: Where – just where – did the rain start beating? That Ruto could entertain a meeting with 30 MCAs hostile to Governor Samboja during his recent two-day tour, where he declared that Taita Taveta county will not be dissolved as fronted by the governor, tellingly speaks volumes of a nasty fallout between the two former close allies.
Signs of the thawing of relations between the DP and the governor started showing when Samboja – like all his counterparts and most local leaders – gave Ruto’s meetings at the Coast region a wide berth.
Ruto’s tiff with Samboja is a personification of sour grapes, with the DP is said to be mad at the governor’s freshly woven political associations and priorities.
What began as a stalemate between Samboja and the county assembly over budget issues would steadily mutate to a public spat between the governor and the DP, characterised by insults, tongue lashing, accusations and counter accusations and, ultimately, 2022 politics.
With the governor already having collected more than 52,000 signatures on course to petitioning Uhuru Kenyatta to dissolve the county, Samboja appears to be on the roll, choosing to retreat to the people on the ground, whom he perfectly understands in terms of needs and priorities.

Samboja and Ruto

The governor’s drastic action to initiate the dissolution of the county was prompted by the ward reps’ controversial decision to slash the executive’s budget and allocate more than Sh833 million for the ward development fund.
With the three-month 2018/2019 budget impasse bringing operations of the county government to a grinding halt, Ruto has apparently chosen the path of throwing the spanner in the works, lobbing jibes at Samboja, who has in turn refused to yield; in essence returning fire with fire.
The DP dismissed the governor’s while vouching for negotiated settlement to the standoff. Speaking during a recent fundraiser at Buguta trading centre in Voi, Ruto admonished Samboja to cease seeking political support from Nairobi.
“Why are you coming to Nairobi to sort out your problems? Stop playing around with the lives of the people. We do not have time to waste on pettiness. Those who want to dissolve the county should wait for 2022 when the voters will decide on the destiny of the county instead of pushing for dissolution,” Ruto said.
The DP boasted that having rejected the dissolution of neighbouring Makueni county, they (the presidency) will not do it in Taita Taveta, and that they do not want to be part of any quarrels.
Governor Samboja took on the DP telling him off. Accusing the DP of belittling his leadership, Samboja told Ruto to concentrate on pressing matters like land grabbing within Taita, but not without the rider that he does not have a good understanding of the budget impasse.

“We know our problems will find a formula to sort out the stalemate. We don’t need Ruto’s help nor counsel over our internal affairs. That’s why you have not seen me going to his office to ask for help but instead reached out to Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga,” Samboja fired back during a funeral in Wundanyi.
Saying they did not need Ruto’s counsel, Samboja clarified that he had reached out to every other national leader apart from Ruto in his quest to dissolve the county assembly, charging that the DP cannot purport to speak on behalf of the presidency, for the petition will not land at his desk.
The governor attributes his differences with Ruto to the DP’s use of wrong language to address what he called a serious and complex problem, leading to the tongue lashing. Going hammer and tongs at the DP, Samboja accuses Ruto of meddling in outside his jurisdiction while chiding him for his unsolicited advice.
“We respect the deputy president but he must respect us. That is why since I began a campaign to dissolve the county government, I have not stepped into his office. We have the formula to resolve our issues, our petition will be taken to the president, and not Ruto,” stated Samboja.
Dismissing the DP’s call for dialogue with the ward representatives, Samboja said having been elected by the people of Taita Taveta, he will not accept Ruto’s insults, charging the DP had better kept his 2022 politics out of Taita Taveta county.