Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi now says former president Uhuru Kenyatta forced him to support Raila Odinga in the run up 2022 presidential elections.
In a tell-it-all in5terview with NTV, Ngunyi, famous for his political strategy and idead in the corridors of power, claims the former president freezed his bank accounts when he hesitated to rally behind Mr Odinga.
“When I hesitated (in supporting Raila), I would like to report that on two occasions, my bank accounts were frozen,” said Ngunyi, who worked for the former president.
“Mr Kenyatta defected from the original idea of Jubilee (party). He decided to support Raila Odinga. At that time I was supporting both of them (Uhuru and Raila). I remember at that time I told Uhuru we might have a problem in trying to sell Raila in Central Kenya because the Ruto wave appears unstoppable,” says Ngunyi.
President Ruto, who narrowly defeated Mr Odinga by about 200,000 votes to win the presidency in the closely contested 2022 polls, bagged close to 75% percent of all votes cast in Central Kenya, which is the home turf of former president Kenyatta and Martha Karua, who incidentally was Mr Odinga’s running mate in the Azimio coalition.
“We funded Wajackoyah’s (presidential candidate) launch,” claims Ngunyi.
The way we did it, we want it (the launch to happen at the same time Ruto was doing his launch. I wanted to do this to irritate him (Ruto). He would not want to share that moment with someone on TV.
Ngunyi also claimed Ruto would be forced to use the staff toilets at State House during his visit instead of the VVIP option.
Wajackoyah, who finished third in the presidential race after President Ruto and Mr Odinga, marshalled an interesting campaign which included planting and legalising marijuana in Kenya for commercial use.
Ngunyi has further accused Mr Kenyatta of refusing to exit the political stage despite retiring as Head of State and handing over power.