Jubilee and Cord step up hunt for votes as 2017 elections beckon

President Uhuru Kenyatta hugs 13 year-old Sharon Boke in Kisii where he commissioned the Kisii Level Five Hospital on April 28, 2016. President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have in the recent past targeted regions considered peripheral opposition zones. PHOTO | BENSON MOMANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka praised Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto for initiating development projects in Ukambani, and exuded confidence that they will win the next election.
  • The coalition has suspended the protests for a week after the court issued an injunction against them.

The ruling Jubilee coalition and the opposition Cord have hit the campaign trail ahead of next year’s General Election.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have in the recent past targeted regions considered peripheral opposition zones.

Over the last two weeks, President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto have hosted delegations from Ukambani, Meru and Bungoma, and toured Kisii and Nyamira counties, generously promising and launching development projects in a bid to reach out to regions where support for the Jubilee coalition in the last election was minimal.

Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka praised Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto for initiating development projects in Ukambani, and exuded confidence that they will win the next election.

“Uhuru is just being strategic. He knows his re-election will be dependent on his development record. So, by initiating development projects across the country, he gains a great advantage over his opponents in 2017. We welcome the projects he has initiated in Ukambani because some of them had been promised to Kambas many years ago but remained just that, mere promises,” he said.

Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were in Nyamira and Kisii counties on Wednesday and Thursday to launch several projects in a region that largely voted for Cord in the last General Election.

The “development” tours have not gone unnoticed by the Opposition, which describes them as a bid by the government to redeem its image in what they claim is diminishing popularity.

Cord, on the other hand, is making reforms in the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission a key campaign issue, hoping it will win them votes.

Their plan is street protests, which have been roundly condemned by Jubilee and other critics as being an old- fashioned strategy from the 1980s.

The coalition has suspended the protests for a week after the court issued an injunction against them.

RAILA RALLY

But Cord said they were suspending the protests in honour of former First Lady Lucy Kibaki, who died in London this week and that they will resume on May 9.

On Saturday, Mr Raila Odinga will be in Meru, where he will address rallies, while his Cord co-principal Moses Wetang’ula will be in Kakamega County, where he launched his presidential bid recently.

Mr Odinga skipped Mr Wetang’ula’s launch and went to Tanzania. Violence broke out during the event.

Mr Odinga returns to Meru just a week after addressing the annual devolution conference that the President did not attend.

At the same time, local Meru leaders went to Nairobi to meet President Kenyatta at State House Nairobi, where he promised Sh1 billion to revive the miraa trade, which is a key economic activity of the Ameru region.

According to Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi, the Jubilee government is in early campaigns dangling goodies in various regions.

“It is obvious that they have started early campaigns. They are trying to dangle carrots in the hope of winning votes. We are likely to see many more of these trips as we approach the General Election,” he said.

He added that even though Jubilee will revive Mumias and Pan Paper, they are doing nothing about the Kakamega-Webuye road, which is the economic lifeline of Kakamega, Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties.

Suna East MP Junet Mohamed said Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are crisscrossing the country, promising development projects.