Newly elected parliamentarians from the Mount Kenya region were “yesterday” locked out of a two-hour meeting at president-elect William Ruto’s office in the wealthy suburb of Karen in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
That’s according to what seems to be a photo of the print version of Corridors of Power, a popular political gossip column in Kenya’s the Star newspaper.
It reads: “According to Faith Gitau, the WomenRep-elect for Nyandarua, Mt. Kenya legislators were kept waiting for two hours as Ruto met a faction of MPs from the Rift Valley, specifically his Kalenjin kinsmen.
“The Legislators including Deputy President-elect Rigathi Gachagua were kept waiting for hours causing jitters in the faction, as no one would tell exactly what was happening.”
On 15 August, current deputy president Ruto was declared the winner of the 9 August 2022 presidential poll. His main rival, former prime minister Raila Odinga, is set to challenge the result in court.
Ruto, from the Kalenjin community, ran on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) ticket.
His running mate, Rigathi Gachagua, is the outgoing MP of Mathira constituency in the Mount Kenya region. He is Kikuyu, the country’s most populous community.
Mount Kenya is a political construct of communities in the Mount Kenya region, specifically the Kikuyu, Meru and Embu. The vote-rich region was instrumental in the UDA’s victory.
Ruto locking new MPs from the region out of a meeting could be interpreted as a political betrayal, and suggest early fault lines in the alliance.
But was this political gossip really published in the Star’s Corridors of Power?
‘Beware of fake news’
On 17 August the Star posted the image on its verified Twitter account, stamped “FAKE”.
“BEWARE of FAKE news! Get the real copy on mgazeti.com,” the tweet reads.