Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
Women MPs are divided in the battle for the attention of Deputy President William Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga.
The divide is so deep that it has triggered the formation of two amorphous groupings akin to the Kileweke and Tangatanga brigades.
A section of women is coalescing around Kieleweke and therefore supporting President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila through the Embrace mantra.
Another team of women has triggered a storm with their allegiance to the team Tangatanga which supports Ruto's 2022 presidential bid.
The two groups have upped stakes and opened a new realm of political confrontation as the clock ticks to the next general election.
Tellingly, the two groups have launched countrywide tours to shore up support for their masters in what could heighten political tensions- 34 months off the upcoming polls.
The Star has established that the two factions would soon launch resource mobilisation programmes in an elaborate scheme to firm up their financial muscles.
There is also speculation that the Kieleweke women wing is receiving massive support from government agents opposed to Ruto's ambitions.
Dubbed Embrace, the team is being steered by influential women MPs from both Jubilee and opposition parties in what is unfolding to be a titanic wave to sway Kenyan women against Ruto.
Nairobi woman representative Esther Passaris and her Homa Bay counterpart Gladys Wanga are some of the conspicuous faces of the Embrace team.
The team is also backed by Public Service Administrative Secretary Rachel Shebesh amid political undertones that some top officials in the office of the president are bankrolling its activities.
The DP's women battalion brings together fiery MPs like KIrinyaga woman representative Purity Ngirici, nominated senator Millicent Omanga and Kandara MP Alice Wahome.
The team is said to be keen on creating some women empowerment programmes to endear itself to grassroots women in a bid to counter the embrace squad.
They have already launched a project dubbed 'Inua Mama Movement' to sen and turn tables against team embrace.
Yesterday, Ngirici, who is also the chairperson of the Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association, told the Star that the initiative will be taken to the doorsteps of women.
"This is actually a programme we have launched to uplift the livelihoods of our people at the grassroots," she said.
She blamed a section of government officials for exploiting their position to cause divisions among Kenyan women.
"It is clear that some government officials are misusing public funds by funding the embrace team. We want them to resign and face us out here," she added.
Wahome said the campaign dubbed ‘Mama ni taifa’ ‘mama ni jamii’ ‘mama ni boma’ will help to build the nation and affirm the need for the country.
"We know who want to use our women colleagues to mislead Kenyans into supporting their bid to get power through the back door. We shall stand against that at all cost," she said.
Omanga said there is a deliberate effort by some politicians who have united to block Ruto from succeeding President Uhuru Kenyatta.
'This plan is what we are against, Nobody should be discriminated against," she said.
Last week, the team flew to Malindi to welcome area MP Aisha Jumwa to the battalion and held a Harambee where they raised over Sh2 million.
As the Tanga-tanga team breaths fire, their Kieleweke counterparts are warning for a major showdown.
Last week they held a rally in Muranga hosted by area women representative Sabina Chege.
They have vowed to hold peace rallies across to nation aimed at bonding the nation together to ensure post-election violence becomes a thing of the past.
"We have come together because we want to support the handshake and help President Uhuru Kenyatta achieve his agenda of uniting Kenyans by working closely with prime minister Raila Odinga," Wanga told the Star.
Rosa Buyu of Kisumu county told the Star the unity they are championing will bring communities together.
"But we are nowhere to tell Kenyans as natives from the lakeside, we have talked and decided to drop such unpleasing bloodshed behaviour and we now join team embrace to heal the nation," Buyu said.
The two protagonist groups are likely to heighten political tensions ahead of the 2022 pols amid widening cracks in the ruling Jubilee party.