Casting net wider to Western and Kisii ‘a statement of intent’

What you need to know:

  • By concentrating on the vote-rich Western region and Gusiiland, Mr Kenyatta sent a clear signal that he is keen to bring more regional blocks on board, beyond the reliance on his Central Kenya base and Mr Ruto’s Rift Valley stronghold.
  • “Some of his support bases have drifted away — like the Somali community and the Rift Valley, which is shaky right now. This is why you see him scavenging for new territories. He sees Western as a new frontier that can replace his shrinking base,” said the senator.
  • “With the growing discontent in Rift Valley, Uhuru is not sure if the region will play a crucial role in his re-election like it did in 2013. I also see a president who does not want to face the next polls with a deputy to whom he is so much beholden,” he says.

President Uhuru Kenyatta appears to have cast his net beyond Deputy President William Ruto’s Rift Valley stronghold in the recent parastatal appointments, causing murmurs in the ruling coalition that he could be seeking to consolidate his political position ahead of the 2017 polls.

By concentrating on the vote-rich Western region and Gusiiland, Mr Kenyatta sent a clear signal that he is keen to bring more regional blocks on board, beyond the reliance on his Central Kenya base and Mr Ruto’s Rift Valley stronghold.

Mr Kenyatta raided Gusiiland, picking seven chairmen of parastatals, and a host of others from what used to be Western Province to either head or sit on some of the boards.

Ford People chairman Henry Obwocha, former MPs Robert Monda and Walter Nyambati were named to head public corporations. Notably, PDP party leader and former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara was also tapped. This could signify the President’s desire to bring PDP under Jubilee.

From Western, he picked former Cabinet ministers Musikari Kombo and Soita Shitanda. Two weeks earlier, he had nominated New Ford-Kenya chairman Eugene Wamalwa Cabinet secretary for Water and Irrigation. 

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar says the appointments are meant to compensate  for lost ground. 
“Some of his support bases have drifted away — like the Somali community and the Rift Valley, which is shaky right now. This is why you see him scavenging for new territories. He sees Western as a new frontier that can replace his shrinking base,” said the senator.

Even though Western and Gusiiland are seen as leaning towards the Opposition Cord, Jubilee enjoys significant support in the area.
In Western, there have been suggestions of a Raila Odinga succession after his failure to win the presidency. Mr Kenyatta could be plotting to cash in on this.

Further, the region’s vulnerability emanates from the absence of a single politician around whom the community revolves. Amani Coalition boss Musalia Mudavadi is not the sole leader of the region as others such as Ford-K leader and Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula and Mr Wamalwa, hold considerable sway. 

RIFT VALLEY

But Mr Tom Mboya of Maseno University thinks that by reaching out to Western, Mr Kenyatta is seeking to reduce Deputy President William Ruto’s influence in government.
“With the growing discontent in Rift Valley, Uhuru is not sure if the region will play a crucial role in his re-election like it did in 2013. I also see a president who does not want to face the next polls with a deputy to whom he is so much beholden,” he says.

There are murmurs within the URP wing of Jubilee that the appointment of parastatal chiefs was the clearest sign yet that Mr Kenyatta is not bound by the TNA-URP pact on equal sharing of public jobs and that he is leaving his options open as 2017 approaches.

A URP MP who was among lawmakers who attended a “consultative” meeting chaired by Mr Ruto last Thursday evening at Weston Hotel told Sunday Nation that emerging cracks in the ruling coalition were among the issues they discussed.

“The meeting was unanimous that URP has not been accorded the best treatment in the recent past. Our TNA brothers see us as junior partners —  something we will not accept,” the source said.
Prof Winnie Mitullah, the director of the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi, says that in terms of restructuring of parastatals, Mr Kenyatta made many steps backwards.
“What worries some of us is the fact that the move thwarts what we thought were ongoing reforms in state corporations.”

She said since Western is a vote basket, Mr Kenyatta was trying to boost his re-election chances by his “act of tokenism”.
Mr Mboya agrees. “That the move is deeply underpinned by 2017 gerrymandering is not in doubt. Uhuru’s coalition wing is alive to the fact that should the discontent in the Rift Valley persist, he will not get sufficient votes from there.”

The President is also keen to erase Mr Ruto’s footprint in the former Western Province, the don says. The Deputy President has kept a heavy presence in the region, presiding over a number of fundraisers and other public forums.

Worthy of note is that Mr Mudavadi, one of the senior-most politicians from Western, supported Mr Wamalwa’s Cabinet nomination. He said whereas political machination could not be ruled out, the appointment did not mean Mr Kenyatta wanted to sway the Luhya community to his side.

“When Lazarus Amayo (from Mr Odinga’s Nyanza stronghold) was appointed Kenya’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, was it meant to divide Nyanza people or sway them to join government? Absolutely not. Neither is (Samson) Mwathethe’s appointment (as the Kenya Defence Forces chief).

What is wrong if a Kenyan from Western is appointed to the Cabinet?” Mr Mudavadi asked.
But observers argue that because a number of appointees are 2013 poll losers, they may not have game-changing political currency to Mr Kenyatta’s re-election bid.

But according to President Kenyatta, this is all talk. “The appointments reflect the face of Kenya, with all 47 counties represented,” he said through Mr Manoah Esipisu, his spokesman.

The hunting expedition also extended to the Maa. In picking the Sunkuli brothers — Andrew and Julius —  Mr Kenyatta appeared to be dangling a carrot at a time when there is a perceived rebellion led by Narok Senator Stephen ole Ntutu.