Deputy president-elect Rigathi Gachagua has claimed that Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho is leading the machinations to bar Bungoma senator-elect Moses Wetangula from taking over the 13th parliament as its speaker.
Wetangula who secured a second term in the upper house has been fronted by Kenya Kwanza to succeed Justin Muturi as the speaker of the National Assembly.
In the pecking order, the Ford Kenya party leader would be the third-most powerful figure after the president and his deputy.
According to Rigathi, Kibicho is heading a team of government operatives who are keen on sabotaging Wetangula'a quest to take over the helm of the August house.
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He claimed that Kibicho had ordered the government printer to momentarily put to a halt the gazettement of senators in a bid to injure Wetangula's ascension to the office.
"I want to tell Karanja Kibicho, the current Interior PS who will be leaving office with President Uhuru Kenyatta, that he tried frustrating DP William Ruto for four and half years and he (Ruto) has now become president. He has now started another plot to bar Wetangula from assuming the speaker's position.
"I want to tell him that stopping the gazettement of the senators is inconsequential in matters of electing the speaker of the National Assembly. He is just wasting his time like he did for four years trying to stop Ruto from being the president of Kenya," said Gachagua.
The deputy president-elect spoke on Sunday, August 28, during a church service at Christ the King Cathedral in Bungoma Town.
Earlier, Wetangula had exuded confidence that the Kenya Kwanza Coalition has the requisite numbers to influence the next leader of the Assembly.
"Mimi naenda kuwa speaker of the National Assembly. The third in command in the country. I want to assure our Kenya Kwanza team wee have our numbers. So there is no reason to worry. The northerners have joined us and the independents have also joined us. And they can see that this country is heading to the right direction," he said.
