The News Brief: Ruto, Raila 2022 battle moves to county assemblies

The battle for political control now moves to the county assemblies as they start considering the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill, 2020. The politics of the passage or rejection of the Bill is seen as a battle between ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto - the perceived frontrunners for the 2022 presidential race.

While their regions may be behind each of them, how President Uhuru Kenyatta’s backyard of Mt Kenya treats the BBI Bill will shape the politics going forward. For Raila, it would mean that his handshake with Uhuru has been working in his favour in the region while for Ruto, it would be a good result for his aggressive campaigns in Uhuru’s backyard.

Stereotyped because of its poor infrastructure and insecurity, Lamu was once a place not many people in the country would have wanted to visit, work or live in. Residents here have branded themselves and their county as marginalised owing to the fact that successive governments haven’t paid as much attention. However, the most pronounced stereotype about Lamu county is insecurity caused by constant al Shabaab attacks in the region and other counties along the Kenya-Somalia border.

Fast forward to 2021 and the national government is preparing to officially launch the Sh2.5 trillion new Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport corridor project at Kililana in Lamu West. Over the last few years, Lamu has witnessed a massive inflow of people strategically positioning themselves ahead of the port launch.

A huge floating island thicket has blocked most of Sori beach in Migori County, making life miserable for fishermen and providing breeding grounds for hippos and crocodiles. The scrubland is about the size of four football fields and has been 'docked' for more than a month. Fishermen in the Lake Victoria area have called on the government to bring in a dredger and remove the thicket.

It used to be an island out in Lake Victoria and fishermen could manoeuvre around it. But now it's part of the mainland. The thicket, overgrown with shrubs and papyrus has completely choked the fish landing. About 1,200 fishermen at Nam Rongo fish landing beach are affected.

A new Coast-based political party will be unveiled soon to unite the region. Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi said the process is at an advanced stage and could be made public before June. The governor was categorical that the new political outfit will be a vehicle for all as opposed to the individual parties such as the recently unveiled UDA to which MPs Aisha Jumwa (Malindi) and Kilifi North's Owen Baya are allied.

Kingi said the only thing which will make the Coast region stronger is a political party that shall bring all people together. Kingi who is a close ally of Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho and an ODM die-hard renewed his idea for the 'Tufe' movement. Tufe in KiGiriama means a football made from waste papers, old pieces of clothes, and many other forms of waste that are tied together.

Recent spark of school unrest has now emerged as a worrying trend that could affect the smooth running of the 2020 KCPE, KCSE exams. With a little, less than 60 days to the start of the national examinations and preparation currently at homestretch, critical stakeholders have called for intervention to avert spillover of the already witnessed notoriety and unruliness among students.

In the last week alone, five schools have razed dormitories and destroyed property in schools. They include Kisii High School, Bukembe Boys' High School in Bungoma County, Kirimari and Kiambere secondary schools both in Embu county, and Kisumu School. This is in addition to attacks on teachers by students witnessed in the early weeks of school reopening.