How Uhuru Mt Kenya tour could turn the tables on Ruto

President Uhuru Kenyatta's lengthy BBI campaign blitz in his Central Kenya turf could turn the tables on Deputy William Ruto's earlier gains in the vote-rich region.

The President was forced to make the visit to salvage and resurrect BBI's fortunes in his home region where support was said to be lukewarm to hostile.

Now the President's men say the ground is already shifting in their favour and away from DP Ruto.

Ruto's allies denounced the trip as a flop, saying it failed to meet the expectations of the region because some critics of the President were locked out. Ruto has or had made major inroads in the region.

However, the President's key allies argue the head of state's tour of his backyard has whipped wayward elements in Mt Kenya back into his fold and set back the DP's hopes of capturing the electorate. 

The Mt Kenya region is projected to have close to 12 million eligible voters in the 2022 General Election, making it a battlefront in the fight for numbers.

The DP, who has since fallen out with the President, appears to have been shoved from the succession matrix, but has ramped up his campaign, especially targeting Mt Kenya in what had nearly vanquished Uhuru.

Allies of Uluru's handshake partner Raila Odinga had even started doubting the President's commitment to the BBI process following the region's fervour about Ruto's hustler nation narrative.

The President's latest charm offensive to fend off Ruto from his 'bedroom' is part of a wider political plan to destroy or win over the DP's support and ultimately obliterate his 2022 presidential ambitions.

Stung by claims of the Building Bridges Initiative's lack of popularity in his backyard, the President had to swing into action last week and  pitched camp at the Sagana State Lodge.

The President met more than 10,000 grassroots opinion leaders, including more than 500 MCAs from the Mt Kenya.  He inspected  a dozen projects.

On Thursday, Nyeri Town MP and vocal BBI proponent Ngunjiri Wambugu told the Star the tide was fast turning in favour of the President's agenda.

He said the President's message was already trickling down to the grassroots after he explained his BBI position to opinion leaders.

The pioneer of the Kieleweke wing of Jubilee said Uhuru targeted 'trainers of trainers' to ensure a high-impact about turn on BBI.

“There is going to be a gradual ground swell as the days go by and the message is spread to the grassroots, with the entire region likely to shift in about three weeks,” Wambugu said.

He went on, “Even before then, going by the message the President gave out, you can still feel the shift even before actual work begins from the delegates he met.”

During the engagements with delegations from the 10 Mt Kenya counties, the President is said to have laid bare his rock-bottom relationship with his deputy and warned the region against following him blindly.

For the first time since their ties collapsed after Uhuru's March 2018 rapprochement with Raila, the President spoke directly to his people. He said he never made any promise to his deputy about supporting him in 2022.

The assertions, following the DP's sustained forays into Uhuru's turf, could upset his 2022 game plan.

National Assembly Deputy Majority Whip Maoka Maore, who accompanied the President during the tour, told the Star the ground has shifted. 

“The President has an elaborate plan to consolidate his turf and have the region fully support the BBI process and what we have witnessed in the last few days during his visit serves his agenda well,” Maore said.

He said the BBI push to amend the 2010 Constitution was the surest way to secure the interests of Mt Kenya in a binding document that no other leader will trash even during political arrangements.

“The Mt Kenya social contract with any leader seeking its support in any political arrangement will now be anchored in the Constitution through the BBI process,” he said.

Uhuru poured his heart out about his passion for the BBI, telling his people that the constitutional review would guarantee the region a fair stake in  government even as he leaves office next year.

The President was categorical that he had not promised to back Ruto's presidential bid and that the region should be awakened to elect a leader to secure the community's interests post 2022.

Repeatedly enumerating what he called massive BBI benefits, the President called the document 'the panacea' for the region's representation and economic challenges.

For instance, he said Mt Kenya is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the BBI and would get at least 14 new constituencies while the diaspora county.  Nakuru will get five additional constituencies

With each constituency getting at least Sh100 million in CDF each year, the new constituencies would mean more resources to the grassroots through MPs, over and above the proposed 35 per cent allocation to counties.

The new constituencies aim to address concerns of under-representation and entrench the one-man-one shilling ideology.

Political risk analyst Dismas Mokua said the DP will now be forced back to the drawing board to change his strategy because Mt Kenya was slipping away from him.

“It is a matter of time before we start seeing a lot of open hostility to Ruto's hustler narrative in Central Kenya following Uhuru's tours. Things will get tougher for Ruto," he said.

The President's advisers have also crafted a new strategy to counter Ruto's forays by deploying the entire state machinery to promote BBI.'

The plan is to unleash all top government officials from the Mt Kenya region including Cabinet Secretaries and parastatal chiefs to neutralise and overcome the anti-BBI sentiments.

They will explain to residents the benefits of the initiative and 'set the record straight' on government projects, rejecting claims the President has abandoned 'his people' and works to benefit the elite.

Just this week, the President started by dispatching his ministers to inspect development projects in Nairobi; in a few weeks, they will camp in Mt Kenya.

Kieni MP Kanini Kega said the President was planning another major tour of the region once county assemblies and Parliament pass the BBI Bill.

He hosted the president in absence of Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua, who is pro-Ruto.

The President's ally affirmed Mt Kenya will fully back the BBI report as a panacea to the region's myriad challenges, including securing their political future.

“The President has just been in Mt Kenya for a few days and the ground has shifted. What will happen when  he moves to the podium and takes the microphone?" Kega asked.

County assemblies have started deliberating on the Constitution of Kenya (amendment) bill, 2020. Some of Raila's  strongholds having set the pace in the battle for the magic number: 24 counties' endorsement.

Kandara lawmaker Alice Wahome, Ruto's point woman in the Mt Kenya region, said Uhuru's meeting with Central Kenya politicians could only be interpreted as tribal.

"The meeting was about ethnic mobilisation. It’s regrettable. What is ailing this President? Ten years and you are still complaining," Wahome protested.

A recent poll by Tifa showed President Kenyatta's Central bastion is the weakest link in the BBI push, with only 36 per cent of his supporters saying they would vote in favour of it.

By contrast, 66 per cent of those surveyed in ODM leader Raila Odinga's bastions said they they would support the BBI's proposed constitutional changes.

The poor showing painted a grim picture for BBI prospects in the President's turf, forcing Uhuru to swing into action to salvage the situation ahead of the BBI referendum.