{UAH} Edmund/Pojim/WBK: Standard Digital News - Kenya : It’s do or die for Jubilee in Kericho, Malindi
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Standard Digital News - Kenya : It's do or die for Jubilee in Kericho, Malindi
NAIROBI: Today we focus on Monday's by-elections in Malindi Constituency and Kericho County. The question that will interest many is not who will win and who will lose, but why one and not the other.
As the clock ticks, it is important to acknowledge that for both the Jubilee Alliance led by President Uhuru and his deputy William Ruto, and Opposition led by Mr Raila Odinga, this is a dress rehearsal for next year's election.
But first we need to acknowledge that both the constituency and senatorial seats were rendered vacant by Mr Kenyatta and by extension Mr Ruto's decision to pick the previous holders to their Cabinet. Even more interesting is that unlike the Malindi seat, which was held by Dan Kazungu, a Cord MP, the Kericho Senate seat was in the hands of Jubilee; ostensibly a Mr Ruto right-hand man, Charles Keter.
So the pain in Kericho for the DP, who has been pinned down and is fighting to prove he is still the only bull in the Kalenjin kraal and all the other are kisenjinik (genetically inferior breed) is self-inflicted in the sense that other than reciprocating Charles' friendship and for some reason, trusting him alone with the nectar-laden Energy docket, there was no limit of choices for Davis Chirchir's former office.
Malindi has the echo of the Kajiado Central by-election in March 2015 which, being in the hands of ODM, again Mr Kenyatta picked the sitting MP, Joseph Nkaissery to replace Joseph Ole Lenku who was facing accusations of incompetence in the security docket. Mr Odinga's candidate Elijah Memusi won against JP's Patrick Tutui.
Kajiado Central is significant in the current fight in Kericho and Malindi because first, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto, accompanied like in Coast campaigns by Senator Mike Sonko, who is in love with teeth-gritting epithets and insults borrowed from the ghettoes, were forced to eat the humble pie. This was despite the deployment of the magnet of State incumbency and largesse. Secondly, Kajiado Central was to be the first seat of the then newly-formed Jubilee Party (JP). The one that Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto are still fighting to prop up as their election vehicle next year.
Jubilee's troubles in Malindi appear to be of heavier tonnage, largely because at the time Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto were wooing coastal votes, the Coastal land question sprung up again through the purchase of a vast piece in Mombasa popularly known as Waitiki Land and a decision that the squatters pay an annual fee (something unheard of even in areas where IDPs in post-election camps were settled).
They were also given what they saw as lower-cadre statement of land ownership. Then the President, whose family owns thousands of acres in the region, complicated matters by shouting back at the crowd protesting the order to pay the land fee, saying in any case they did not vote for him and Jubilee.
Then Mr Kenyatta's team seemingly dug themselves into a hole with raids on businesses associated with Mr Odinga's top lieutenant at the Coast, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho. The timing was horrible and in defiance of court orders to reopen them, accentuating suspicions that this was not just a contraband and tax-evasion issue.
It was politics and Mr Ruto would later insinuate in Malindi that some of the Coast opposition leaders were 'criminals'. Yet at the time, Jubilee was up in flames over the Eurobond and Anne Waiguru's dizzying graft claims.
Kericho County on the other hand presents a fascinating story because the fury against Mr Ruto revolves around claims that Jubilee has neglected the South Rift region; that he is the mouthpiece of its empty tumetenga mamilioni (allocated millions for development) promises; that he treats Kalenjins like potatoes in a sack; and that there is bias in senior government appointments; that Senate candidate Aaron Cheruiyot, is one of Mr Keter's cousins!
Well, in Kericho, Mr Ruto will be fighting to prove the claim that he has all the Kalenjins in one basket and can bargain with whomever he wants to, day or night, and two; that his abrasive style and apparent foul language on those who differ with him solely on opinion, has either gone unnoticed by the community or has been 'forgiven'.
Also, Kericho presents Ruto with another challenge; the leaders he has always spat on as minions, have proven they may not exactly be what he takes them up to be before the rest of Kenyans.
Remember too, there is the bigger test: Can the Kalenjins swallow hook, line and sinker his proud claim that the 2017 General Election is a walkover for Mr Kenyatta and that 2022 is his turn to rule Kenya just like that – by supporting Kenyatta and waiting? Could it be that to be President of the Republic of Kenya is so easy and many don't know?
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