April 10, 2026

5 thoughts on “WikiLeaks Releases: Nairobi Cable No. 16: Tensions in Coalition Government

  1. Violence in Rift Valley

    In cables to Washington, US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger following the post-election said of Kibaki: “He should not blame Odinga for this, saying there are forces beyond his control. He said Mr Ruto one of the members of ODM is largely responsible for the continuing violence in Rift Valley.”

    The brewing rebellion since Ruto and fellow ODM rebels elbowed out some members of the President’s think-tank has reportedly placed the President in a quandary, made worse by revelations the relationship between the suspended minister and the Head of State had blossomed to the extent the MP now gets daily intelligence briefs.

    Interestingly Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode are said to be out of the loop about the turn of events in the ministry and the party he chairs. The disgruntlement in PNU comes at a time the President and the ODM renegades are confident they have their common adversary, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in a corner.

  2. time the President and the ODM renegades are confident they have their common adversary, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in a corner.

    Imminent revolt

    Sources, whose names we cannot reveal because of their positions in Government, say an imminent revolt in the President’s party has forced him to review his engagement with the ODM renegade MPs, who also include Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgei, Belgut MP Charles Keter, and Tourism Minister Najib Balala, among others.

    In addition to the ODM rebels, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta of Kanu has teamed up with Ruto in one of he fiercest push to ‘deflate’ Raila, who multiple opinion surveys predict stands a better chance of winning presidential poll, due next year, despite falling support.

    Nairobi Metropolitan Development Minister Njeru Githae denies there is discomfort in the party precipitated by the arrival of Ruto and company.

    “This is a working relationship of like-minded MPs who have the welfare of this country at heart. In politics, the more the merrier,” Githae says. He said the group is not joining PNU to take over its leadership.

    “We need to bring the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin together even if they support different presidential aspirants,” he points out. The Kikuyu and Kalenjin killed each other in the 2008 post-election violence resulting in the displacement of about 650,000 people, thousands of who still live in IDP camps. The mayhem claimed 1,133 lives.

    However, relations between the two communities began thawing during the eviction of Mau Forest Complex illegal settlers. Githae says the bond strengthened further when the International Criminal Court named six chief suspects, among them, Ruto and Uhuru.

    The President, sources say, was forced to cancel his second trip in two to Eldoret at the invitation of Ruto to open the agricultural show on Thursday.

    When The Standard On Sunday sought details of why Kibaki delegated Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka to represent him, it was informed the President stayed behind to chair an urgent national security meeting.

    Whatever the case, members of the President’s party have openly disagreed with him over his new ties with ODM MPs at the expense of his erstwhile advisors.

    Own machinery

    While denying he or Prof Saitoti was aware of the intelligence reports, Mr Ojode says: “Reports about Ruto getting intelligence briefs are mere allegations. It cannot happen even if he were reappointed minister,” says the assistant minister. He, however, says in the current political atmosphere anything is possible.

    “You can never know what goes on behind my back. Ruto could be having his own machinery of gathering intelligence,” he observes.

    Ojode would not comment on why the PM was the subject of intelligence gathering.

    Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba conceded when asked if his party, ODM, was aware Eldoret MP receives daily briefs on the Prime Minister.

    “Prof Saitoti does not know what is going on in his own docket. Intelligence reports bypass him without his clearance,” says Namwamba.

    Assistant Minister for Public Works, Mwangi Kiunjuri, an ally of the President, admits there are leadership battles in the party. He, however, says the pent-up anger in PNU has nothing to do with the perceived raid of the President’s think-tank by the ODM MPs.

    “Ruto has given PNU a fresh breath of life. The party was short of strategy before Ruto arrived. What we are seeing is rejuvenation of the party by someone who has reenergised our thinking,” Kiunjuri says.

    Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Kilemi Mwiria, who in a recent early morning talk show on Standard Group’s Radio Maisha FM, first made the disquiet in the party public warned the President against embracing the ODM rebels.

    Dr Mwiria warned the President risked undoing his legacy by getting advice from Ruto and Uhuru. It is not enough to welcome them with open arms; they are self-seekers, Kilemi warned.

    It is the same line of argument Saitoti has used to protest the unrestricted access and privileges the rebels have from the President.

    The apprehension in PNU is based on fears the unrestricted access to national intelligence by their new allies could one day be used against them. According to Namwamba, the fears in PNU are premised on the former minister’s past, especially after deserting former President Moi, his colleagues in YK’92, United Democratic Movement (which he plans to reclaim) and ODM.

    Says Namwamba, “It is clear that there is a mole in the intelligence machinery. It is The Watergate style of doing things points to desperation. This obsession with the PM is dangerous for this country,” the MP, who the chairs of Committee on Legal Affairs, says.

  3. Wikileaks RUTO CAN DUMP UHURU-WIKILEAKS .RUTO CAN DUMP UHURU-WIKILEAKS .
    REPORTER . CLOSE ALLIES? William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta enjoy a joke in 2010
    .
    WILLIAM Ruto could dump Uhuru Kenyatta, according to the latest Wikileaks cable quoting Sally Kosgei.The cable on June 2, 2009 says that ambassador Michael Ranneberger dined on May 12 at his Muthaiga residence with the then Higher Education minister, US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson and National Security Council director for Africa Michelle Gavin. “She expects that Ruto will abandon Uhuru if he stumbles or is no longer useful,” said Ranneberger in the cable.

    She confirmed that Ruto, Uhuru and Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka were working on an alliance primarily as a reaction to the Waki Commission. “Ruto, in Kosgei’s view, is working with Uhuru to block key reforms and scuttle the Waki Commission’s call for a local tribunal to investigate post-election violence,” said the cable which noted that “Both Ruto and Kenyatta are believed to be on the Waki Commission’s sealed list of 10 architects of post-election violence”. “Kosgei (an ethnic Kalenjin) expressed doubt that Kikuyu voter in Central and Kalenjin voters in Rift Valley will be willing to set aside the violence suffered at each others hands to form a coalition in 2012,” the cable states.

    In 2009, Kosgei had not yet switched to join the rebel ODM group around William Ruto but she was still privately critical of party leader Prime Minister Raila Odinga. “Kosgei believes that Odinga truly wants to achieve the reform agenda but does not have the organisational discipline to do so. Raila had not office structure and no discipline in his life or schedule,” the cable states.

    She “quote former Salim Lone as observing that Odinga has made it this far in politics by the force of his personality without having to demonstrate managerial acumen”. “Odinga is unwilling to sack corrupt deputies and is overly focused on protocol issues and ODM inclusion in appointment decisions such that it distracts his attention from the broader reform agenda,” the cable states. “Though Kosgei and her ministers have access to Odinga, he often agrees to meet late at night when he is tired and unfocused”.

    However Kosgei concluded that “Odinga, despite his flaws, remains the strongest candidate in a crowded field thanks to strong opposition credentials and an accessible personality”.

    She was dismissive of other candidates. “Uhuru is hindered by laziness and a very hands off approach to running the Ministry of Finance” and had also been damaged by the fiasco of financial inaccuracies in the 2009 budget. “Minister of Internal Security George Saitoti has been appointed to every position he has held and lacks the skills to fight effectively for the Presidency.” “Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi lacks the energy and money to seriously challenge Ruto,” she said. “On the PNU side Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka is a diminishing asset who frets that he will be overshadowed by Mutula Kilonzo,” the cable states.

    Kosgei told the Americans that Kibaki and Raila “have no difficulty reaching agreement on issues but for different reasons are each incapable of advancing reforms. She noted from her own experience in Cabinet meetings that two principals are in a mutual admiration club (in Cabinet they always agree).” “Kosgei noted that Kibaki agrees to reforms in principle but is beholden to the corrupt interests of his inner circle.”

    She agreed with the Americans that Civil Service boss “Francis Muthaura has accumulated inordinate control over government functions”.She defended Martha Karua who had just resigned as Justice minister. “Karua is a good woman, and an ally for reform, but she fell into the trap of believing that Kibaki actually seeks to reform the judicial sector,” the cable states. “Karua’s replacement as Justice Minister, Mutula Kilonzo, used to to be the lawyer to former President Moi. Kilonzo is a windbag and not strong enough to take on the vested interests of the current regime, Kosgei observed, but she expressed the hope that he would undertake at least minimal reforms of the judiciary.”

    In response to a question from Carson about extra-judicial killings, “Kosgei responded by noting that all security organs remain under the control of Kibaki’s PNU party. Because PNU leaders believe that Police Commissioner Ali did them a favour during the past election by cordoning ODM strongholds, Kosgei expects that PNU will block any substantial police reforms and will retain close control of the police, GSU (paramilitary), and military in advance of the 2012 elections”. “In this context, Ali is permitted to utilize extrajudicial killings to control organised gangs such as the Mungiki, which threaten to disrupt Kikuyu politics by operating in the heart of Central Province”, the cable quotes her as saying. “The police freelance in extorting money from the gangs and execute legitimate critics such as the Oscar Foundation principals”, the cable states.

    She was also critical of NSIS director Gen Michael Gichangi as “a man who has no energy” and “is more interested in collecting information on ODM leaders than issues of national importance”.

    The conclusion of the dinner was that “sustained broad public pressure will be required to move leaders beyond their marrow political interests to serving the interests of the country”.

  4. here: National Wikileaks RUTO EXPLAINS KIAMBAA-WIKILEAKS Skip to content.RUTO EXPLAINS KIAMBAA-WIKILEAKS .
    Monday, 07 March 2011 00:01 BY STAR REPORTER . TRAGEDY: A man wipes his face at the burned Kiambaa KAG church near Eldoret.
    .
    FORMER Higher Education minister William Ruto told the American government that the Kiambaa church was the result of an accidental fire, according to the latest Wikileaks cable to be released.

    Ruto was meeting ambassador William Ranneberger, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson and National Security Council director Michelle Gavin on May 12, 2009, almost 17 months later.

    The Waki Commission report stated in 2009 that “the incident which captured the attention of both Kenyans and the world was the deliberate burning alive of mostly Kikuyu women and children huddled together in a church in Kiambaa on 1 January 2008. They had sought refuge in the church following a 30 December attack on their village of Kimuri, bordering Kiambaa. According to reports, including witness testimony, mattresses and blankets were set ablaze with petrol and thrown into the building while mothers and babies who were trying to flee the inferno were pushed back into the church. Kikuyu men attempting to defend their church and loved ones were hacked to death with machetes, shot with arrows, or pursued and killed. The death toll for this horrific incident was 17 burned alive in the church, 11 dying in or on the way to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and 54 others injured who were treated and discharged.” “Ruto expressed frustration with the media, which he felt had blamed members of his Kalenjin group for locking and burning down a church full of asylum seekers in Eldoret during last yeatr’s election violence,” states the cable. “Ruto emphasised that his people had done no such thing. According to Ruto, the cause of the incident was an accidental kitchen fire during preparations for lunch”.

    Gavin then reminded Ruto that a Special Tribunal to investigate post-election violence would allow the truth to “come out and be clarified”. Ruto however appeared ambivalent about the tribunal despite Ranneberger telling “Ruto that his leadership towards a consensus on setting up a tribunal inside Kenya is critical”. “The Waki report (which proposed the local tribunal) was “rubbish” and “unfairly incriminating”, he said. Ruto explained that he voted (in Parliament) in favour of the Special Tribunal for the sake of the country but he was not sure whether the ICC or a local tribunal was the way to go,” the cable states.

    In December, Ruto became one of the six Kenyan leaders that International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says he wants to prosecute for crimes against humanity during the post-election violence. “Both Senior Director Gavin and Ambassador Ranneberger discouraged Kenya from going to the ICC, which would simply indicate to the world that Kenya cannot handle its own problems”, the cable states.

    Two days after the meeting on May 14, ODM leaders including Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the then Agriculture minister William Ruto boycotted the funeral of the Kiambaa victims which was billed as a reconciliation gesture between the communities of the Rift Valley. The funeral was attended by the President Kibaki and other PNU officials. Fourteen of those buried in the church compound died in the fire while another 22 bodies were collected around the area and were not identified or claimed.

    The ODM boycotted the burial because of plans by the government to build a memorial at the church and the decision to bury victims of the violence who did not die at the Kiambaa church. The ODM felt that attending the burial might endorse claims that they were the aggressors and PNU the victims.

    Gavin and Carson told Ruto that “President Obama was deeply concerned by the political gridlock in Kenya.” “Ruto said he appreciated US concerns about Kenya’s future. He believed however that responsibility for Kenya’s stability belonged first and foremost to the country itself”.

    He said the reform process was well underway and that “the safest way to go on both police and judicial reform was through a new constitution”.

    He said “Kenya won’t return to violence because it is a “lot wiser”. The power sharing issues currently at stake will not bring about resurgence of violence”. “The real problem between now and 2012was how to deal with the youth,” said Ruto. “Citing the rise of the Mungiki gang, Ruto explained that it was initially an ethnically based organisation, not it is simply about the marginalised poor lashing out at those with economic means”.

    Ranneberger’s concluding comment in the cable was was “Ruto was unable to offer significant steps on reform that could be accomplished within the next three months. What he did expose again was his extreme sensitivity to the establishment of any kind of tribunal and his willingness to protect his community regardless of the cost to the country as a whole. We do not expect Ruto to serve as a positive agent of change in the coming months”.

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