Muddled messaging rocks Ruto, Mudavadi campaign

Deputy President William Ruto and his new partners Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangu'la are caught up in contradicting campaign messages days after they sealed their political deal.

Key messages are discordant.

The differences were exposed in their first political rallies in Baringo and Nakuru. The differences could force them back to the drawing board to seek harmony.

We told you we shall build roads and have constructed 10,000km

One of the issues is Jubilee’s score card that Ruto has conveniently attacked or praised, depending on regions where he is campaigning.

Others include entrenching devolution by releasing additional resources to county governments, debt management, the BBI and an array of other development issues. 

Speaking in Nakuru, Ruto said they had fulfilled the campaign pledges he and Uhuru Kenyatta had made to Kenyans.

"We told you we shall build the SGR, we have done 700km. We told you we shall build roads and have constructed 10,000km. We told you we shall connect electricity, we have connected 8.5 million people," Ruto told the gathering.

It is good you have done roads, but Kenyans don’t eat roads. That is not fair. Kenyans want food on their table

But when he stood up to speak, Mudavadi attacked Uhuru's government for investing in infrastructure projects that don't have positive impact on the economy.

“It is good you have done roads, but Kenyans don’t eat roads. That is not fair. Kenyans want food on their table,” he said at the Nakuru Sports ground.

During his National Delegates meeting on Sunday at Bomas, Mudavadi described the standard gauge railway as a conduit for graft.

“When we ask to be told how the SGR facility has been secured, for example, we are told in affidavits filed by the government in court that it is a state secret, a high national security risk,” Mudavadi said.

The ANC leader said Kenyans must be told that “the country is at  risk of being auctioned by international lenders and that critical assets have been mortgaged."

Wetang'ula also found himself on unfamiliar grounds as he campaigned for the new Kenya Kwanza Coalition. 

“Once we take over government, we will ensure that we support devolution by allocating over 35 per cent of national revenue to counties,” Wetang'ula said in Nakuru. 

The DP’s camp has previously argued that the national government cannot afford to run its operations if it allocates 35 per cent of its revenue to the 47 counties.

"If right now counties are not getting whole of 15 per cent as provided for in the Constitution, is it going to be possible to implement 35 per cent?" he asked in January last year.

Allocation of more resources to counties has been a major plank of the One Kenya Alliance, to which Mudavadi and Wetang'ula belonged before crossing over to the DP's camp.

The DP has backed the government's Competency- Based Curriculum but on Wednesday, Wetang'ula attacked the system terming it unpredictable.

"We must have a predictable education policy in Kenya. We don't want a few people to micromanage the country. Broad-based public participation will be the cornerstone of our government," Wetang'ula said.

But Ruto has previously backed CBC, terming it a revolutionary step that will provide learners with 21st century practical skills.

"We are constructing and equipping technical colleges in every corner of the country with a renewed focus on CBC," Ruto said in June last year.

Previously Wetang'ula and Mudavadi  have said Uhuru and Ruto are like conjoined who cannot run away from each other.

"We are seeing a situation where somebody is disowning their own boss. If this is what is called governance, I do not understand governance anymore,"Mudavadi said last year.

"Surprisingly, now we are seeing a situation where the Deputy President is telling the President, 'Sorry, I am not part of it'."

(Edited by V. Graham)