Kenya In Chaos Over Unexpected Succession Battle

An unanticipated split in Kenya’s ruling party over President Uhuru Kenyatta’s successor is reigniting political tensions and threatening to hobble the government’s ambitious reform agenda. Alliances in Kenyan politics are often in flux, but analysts say the current spat between Deputy President William Ruto and an ally of Kenyatta is particularly worrying and exposes a rupture between Kenya’s two most senior politicians.

David Murathe, a former vice chairman of the ruling Jubilee party, has launched a series of stinging public attacks on Ruto this year. He has accused the leader of the politically influential Rift Valley region of embezzling public funds and declared him unfit to succeed Kenyatta as the party’s next candidate for head of state.

Kenya is East Africa’s biggest economy and an important commercial hub for many of the region’s biggest companies. Analysts warn that renewed political infighting could curtail development, less than two years after a disputed election rattled investors and suppressed growth.

Kenyatta and Ruto joined forces in 2013 when they were both under indictment by the International Criminal Court for their involvement in post-election violence in 2008. Ruto delivered his Rift Valley voters to help elect Kenyatta in 2013 and backed him again four years later on the understanding that he would succeed the president in 2022.

While the alleged deal was always unpopular with some sections of Kenyatta’s support, it was accepted as a necessary compromise. But Murathe’s attacks, which analysts say are designed by the party’s leadership to torpedo the arrangement, have divided the alliance and threatened to plunge the country into a premature succession battle.