President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday launched a blistering attack on opposition leaders Raila Odinga and Musalia Mudavadi and scorned the forthcoming National Super Alliance as tribal.
It was the latest salvo in the increasingly bitter and personal war of words between Uhuru and Raila.
On Tuesday the ODM and Cord leader said Uhuru should have been jailed in The Hague before and during his trial by the ICC for crimes against humanity in the 2007-08 post-election violence. The charges were dropped in December 2014.
Yesterday, the President dismissed the Super Alliance, saying opposition leaders are tribal kingpins without an agenda to advance Kenya. The opposition says Jubilee is a tribal outfit dominated by two groups, the Kikuyu and the Kalenjin.
Uhuru was touring populous Bungoma county and reopening the first phase of Pan Paper Mills in Webuye. He said 500 people would be employed swiftly and 350 next year. More than 2,000 lost their jobs nine years ago when the company collapsed. He said all former employees would receive a three-month stipend, whether recalled to work or not.
Speaking at Pan Paper, the President referred to the opposition, saying, "The politics of tribalism and propaganda is what has taken this country backward." He called it the root cause of poverty.
Expert comment:
NASA, the National Super Alliance, could pose a serious threat to the Jubilee Party and Uhuru's reelection if indeed the opposition forms a formidable, united and coordinated front. Jubilee leaders have quietly expressed concern NASA could cause them sleepless nights.
It is championed by ANC leader Mudavadi and Raila. Both promise to work with Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang'ula to dethrone Jubilee next year.
Uhuru defeated Raila with only 50.07 per cent of the vote and Raila says the election was stolen.
The original proponent of NASA is Mudavadi who got over slightly below half a million votes in 2013. If NASA idea becomes a reality, the opposition could easily give Uhuru and DP William Ruto a run for their money next August
Jubilee supporters are also worried that complacency and voter apathy, combined with a united opposition, could cost Jubilee the presidency and the majority of seats in Parliament and county assemblies.
Yesterday the President said opposition leaders were assembling tribal leaders who had failed to tell Kenyans their development plan. He accused them of propaganda and cheap politics, the same charges they level against Jubilee.
''These people who call themselves leaders have no agenda and only know how to abuse me and my government and incite Kenyans to violence," Kenyatta said.
Raila has failed to acknowledge what Jubilee has done for the last three years in terms of economic development, including electrification.
''We have done a lot since we assumed office but still other people are not seeing and keep on inciting Kenyans that we have done nothing," Uhuru said.
He said his government and the Jubilee Party are not tribal and have accommodated all Kenyans, regardless of their tribe or religion.
"Those who are saying Jubilee is tribal are doing so because they are not in government. When you are not in my government, that does not mean that the whole of your tribe is not there," the President said.
He said tribal politics had contributed to the collapse of Pan Paper and other industries.
Uhuru urged opposition leaders to join him in fighting poverty and unemployment instead of engaging in endless criticism of his government.
The President, accompanied by DP William Ruto, said the Jubilee government had created more jobs for youths by reviving collapsed industries and connecting electricity to many rural homes.
Ruto said the reopened Pan Paper Mills would help both the people of Bungoma and those of neighboring counties.
''People have been lying to you that Pan Paper will not roll back to life. We have opened one line and they should come and see," he said.
Read:
The President also said the other line will be opened on June next year and will create jobs for 350 workers.
The once-bustling but now depressed Webuye town would be revived, he promised.
''Many big business shops which used to be here were shut down after the collapse of this factory. Now that it's back, Webuye will now be the town we used to know," Uhuru said.
"The former employees will be paid by the government for three months, regardless of whether you had been recalled back or not and also for those who had passed, on their families will benefit," the President said.
Soon the government would open Rivatex in Eldoret and create more jobs, Kenyatta said.
DP Ruto said although the region did not vote for Jubilee in 2013, the government had started numerous projects in the region and it was sure to win votes.
"Although you didn't vote for us, we have ensured that we empower this region with several mega projects. We urge you to vote for us this time round," he said.
Ruto said opposition leaders had done nothing for the region while they were in power and have no moral standing to criticise Jubilee's development record.