Battlelines drawn in Kibra with Raila, Ruto as main players

The battle lines are now drawn for a political contest between opposition leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto.

On Saturday night, ODM announced the winner of its primaries in Kibra - the late Ken Okoth's brother, Benard 'Imran' Okoth.

Okoth will now face off with Jubilee's MacDonald Mariga - who has been touted as Ruto's preferred candidate - in the November 7 by-election.

However, they are not alone in what appears to be the battle between Raila and Ruto ahead of the 2022 elections.

Another likely presidential candidate Musalia Mudavadi has former Raila aide Eliud Owalo as the ANC candidate.

The other candidates are Ford Kenya's Khamisi Butichi and Ukweli's Editar Ochieng.

With the ODM candidate now clear, the political contest between Raila and Ruto is set to occupy the political scenes for the next two months.

The two, and Mudavadi, will be using the by-election to test their political clout in Nairobi's politics ahead of the 2022 general elections.

For Ruto, it is more of showing that he can go against Raila and possibly win while for Raila it will be a do or die contest to show that he still has a grip on his stronghold.

Mudavadi is in the contest to show that he is a key player in the 2022 political game plan and a win for ANC would act as a great boost for him.

"It will certainly be a Raila-Ruto confrontation. But the main thing is not whether Raila's person wins as is likely to be the case. It is how big the margin will be. If the margin is not big, then Raila is in trouble," political analyst Prof Macharia Munene told the Star.

FULL TRAY

Members of Parliament troop back to their respective houses after a two-month break to tackle a full tray of business.

Top on the agenda for the National Assembly and the Senate is the passage of the mediated Division of Revenue Bill whose impasse has left county government penniless.

Hope for counties to receive cash was achieved last week after Senators threw in the towel and accepted the National Assembly’s proposal of Sh316.5 billion for the devolved units.

According to National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi, the mediated version of the Bill will be tabled in both houses on Tuesday and passed by Thursday before it is taken to the President for assent.

Governors had threatened to shut down operations if the Bill was not passed as they have had no money to operate on two months after the start of the 2019/20 financial year.

TAX NET

This week, the Kenya Revenue Authority turned its focus to devolved governments after several counties were found to be deducting taxes from employees but failing to remit them to the authority.

Their first point of call was Nairobi with Governor Mike Sonko appearing for grilling on Thursday.

Sonko committed to paying part of the Sh5.8 billion that his government owes KRA.

The county sought to be allowed to immediately make the first payment as a show of good faith in its attempt to regularise all tax matters.

Six other governors are expected to appear before the tax collectors in the coming week to explain why taxes are not being remitted.

Commissioner General James Mburu has stated that the country does not need to borrow if every Kenyan pays their share of taxes.

KRA is currently auditing all the counties and suppliers who do businesses with counties where they either pay or be taken to court.

Meanwhile, the flow of money into the country from Kenyans living and working abroad dropped in July .

According to the Central Bank of Kenya weekly bulletin diaspora remittance for July stood at $224 million (Sh23.07 billion) compared to $295 million (Sh30.3 billion) in June, signaling a 31.6 per cent drop.