Outspoken political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi is known for his out-of-the-box theories that have ruffled a few feathers over the years. His latest interview lived up to expectations with a radical argument over the real reason behind the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
On March 1, while on the set of Anne Kiguta’s Punchline show on K24 TV, Mutahi posed a question alluding that there was a possibility that President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were using the BBI to hoodwink ODM party leader, Raila Odinga.
“Is it possible, hypothetically, that Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto call each other at night and laugh about ‘fixing’ Raila? ” he posed.
Deputy President William Ruto (left) and President Uhuru Kenyatta enjoy a hearty moment during the BBI launch at the Bomas of Kenya on November 27, 2019.
He went on to explain that only Uhuru knew the real purpose behind his project with Raila, adding that it could be the reason the president has remained mum over the whole initiative and avoided attending any of the rallies.
Asked whether the BBI could be a genuine push to unite the country, the political analyst stated that the outcome of the entire project would be the yardstick by which president Uhuru would use to defend his decision to back the initiative.
“We will only know that this was genuine after the results because it could go south, and if it goes south then we’ll say that it was used to trick Raila. It can be used as a justification. If it works, then we’ll conclude that it was genuine and the country is now united,” he stated.
“The only person who knows what BBI and the handshake will result in, is one Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, nobody else knows,” he added.
On whether recent talks of a third player in the 2022 presidential elections, namely Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Ngunyi was quick to brush off the theory.
“I have heard that the Matiang’i card is on the table. But you can’t take someone from an NGO and make him president and he has no roots. That only happened in Russia with Putin,” he argued.
He went on to state that CS Matiang’i was not financially capable of fighting it out with seasoned politicians for the presidency.
Mutahi Ngunyi speaking during the K24’s Punchline show on March 1, 2020.
K24 Digital
“To put it bluntly, Matiangi is poor. Ruto has interests. Raila the poor prince has some interests. Nikita Khrushchev taught us that the people who vote are not important, it is those that count the votes that are important,” he explained.
Mutahi further argued that there was an outside possibility that Matiang’i was just being used as a pawn, that could potentially be sacrificed in the end.
“My other fear about Matiangi is the fall of the favourite. Throughout history, there has always been someone fattened before the kill,” he theorised.
The straight-shooting political analyst went on to share his view on DP Ruto’s – whom he described as one of his close friends – chances of clinching the presidency in 2022, arguing that the tactics employed by the DP’s detractors of branding him as corrupt would not work.
“If you go to the Kikuyus and tell them that Ruto is a thief, remember that Kikuyus have been called thieves for a long time. Basically, you’re telling them that Ruto is one of them. Those tactics won’t work,” he firmly declared.
In his explanation, Mutahi professed that Raila would need to employ the most extreme tactic of impeaching the deputy president in order to stop his presidential ambition.
President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and ODM party leader Raila Odinga shaking hands outside Harambee House on March 9, 2018.
He further added that the move to oust DP Ruto from government was an inevitable eventuality.
“Ruto is going to be impeached, you can go borrow a loan against that,” he boldly stated, “Raila and Uhuru will come together and they will attempt to impeach Ruto, and it’s not difficult because they have the numbers to do it,” he added.
Mutahi backed the speculations that Uhuru and Ruto’s relationship had come to a bitter end, going on to give a comical analogy of a situation in which the husband (Uhuru) brought another woman (Raila) into his marital home, would automatically render his current relationship with his partner (Ruto) completely untenable.
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck,” he argued.
Watch Mutahi’s full interview with Kiguta below:
