Nairobi governor Johnson Sakaja has accused retired president Uhuru Kenyatta of betraying him at his hour of need despite the fact that it is him offering the former head of state is full support when he first thought of running for the presidency.
Sakaja and Uhuru were very close political allies before the Nairobi governor jumped ship and supported President William Ruto. Sakaja was introduced to Uhuru through people close to former president Mwai Kibaki after he got involved in politics and dropped out of the University of Nairobi.
Infact it was Sakaja who run the very first presidential secretariat for Uhuru when he had not made his bid public. That was as early as 2008 and it shows how close they were. To reward him, Uhuru appointed him the TNA chairman and later sponsored his bid for Senator Nairobi.
Yet in the last election the former friends were backing different horses. Uhuru supported opposition leader Raila Odinga while Sakaja was supporting Ruto. Now they no longer see eye to eye.
“I have no bitterness; I hold no grudge against whoever was behind it and you all know who was behind it. I miss my friend Uhuru Kenyatta as a friend, our journey was very long, politics divided us. I have respect for him,” recalled Sakaja in an interview with Citizen TV.
“I remember the day we sat down and said ‘you can be president’ and I did a presentation in Muthaiga at Jomo Gecaga’s house and I was with Anne Waiguru, Anthony Kihara and a young man called Marvin,” he said.
According to Sakaja, it was Uhuru who was behind the saga about his academic qualifications just before the elections. Sakaja’s degree from Team University was a hot potato in the run up to the elections. The High Court dismissed the case three weeks to elections and cleared the IEBC of any wrong doing in approving Sakaja to vie for the gubernatorial position.
“I was told I reached class two, but the truth came out, I am glad that we have a strong judicial system; that is not about the rule of man but the rule of law. They say ‘no pain, no palm, no cross, no crown, no girl, no glory, no thorns, no thrones’…that process refined, me I developed a thick skin. I used to move from court to the DCI, to campaign, to my campaign office to court to threats,” said Sakaja
“I have no bitterness, I hold no grudge against whoever was behind it and you all know who was behind it,” he said.