Intrigues behind Raila and Ruto EALA picks

It has emerged that President William Ruto and opposition chief Raila Odinga employed Machiavellian manoeuvres to reward party loyalty and long-term political sacrifices by allies.

“It was a tough balancing act I must say to ensure all diversities were represented,” former Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya said.

The ODM deputy party leader said "there were disappointments” but insisted the larger picture was that the leaders picked have rich experience and “unquestionable” loyalty.

“For ODM, our nominees have commitment to the party...many could have been disappointed but if we would have formed government, many could have gotten something to do,” he said.

Until a day to the Wednesday deadline for political parties nominations, the Star has established there was a near falling-out in Ruto's Kenya Kwanza camp as bigwigs scrambled to be shortlisted.

A highly-placed politician said it took the President's last minute intervention on Tuesday night to craft the final shortlist of 15 names that were submitted to Parliament

With UDA having five slots, it shortlisted 15 nominees, while ODM which had two positions, submitted six names.

Jubilee and Wiper, with a slot each, submitted three nominees each ahead of elections next Thursday.

A meeting was convened at State House after Ruto jetted into the country from Egypt where some names were dropped at the last minute to take care of other groups. 

“Were it not for the guidance of the President, House leaders could not have cracked the standoff,” a senior UDA leader who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said.

“The President took a few minutes to listen to presentations by House leaders and proposed some amendments that were also equally supported by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.”

The 11th hour changes saw the dropping of former nominated MP Wilson Sossion, former EALA lawmaker Simon Mbugua and immediate former Nyandarua senator Mwangi Githiomi.

It was during the meeting that the President made it clear that he wanted the names to be shared based on regions, gender and special interest groups, boosting fortunes for some aspirants.

Former Kisii senatorial candidate Okeng'o Nyambane, who was prevailed upon by Ruto to forgo his ambitions and support UDA gubernatorial candidate Ezekiel Machogu, was included in the list.

Nyambane would become the southern Nyanza Kenya Kwanza presidential campaign coordinator after he dropped his ambitions in favour of Machogu.  Both come from the Nyaribari clan.

The Nairobi-based businessman, who is a close ally and confidant of President Ruto, was initially tipped for a Cabinet slot as part of the youth inclusion agenda in Kenya Kwanza.

Having missed the post to Machogu, he is tipped to be among the EALA favourites in the UDA line-up.

The move was supposed to take care of the broader Ruto interests in the larger Kisii and Nyamira counties and to assuage the Abagusii community after it missed out on Principal Secretaries nominations.

There has been massive uproar that the region was being left out from the centre of state power. 

During the night of long knives, another inclusion in Ruto's UDA list was Mombasa politician Yasser Bajaber, who was the UDA campaign coordinator for Mombasa county.

Bajaber's last minute inclusion meant that former Mombasa senator and UDA stalwart Hassan Omar would have to fight hard if he is to make it to EALA, despite initially being a frontrunner.

Omar, who lost to Abdulswamad Nassir in his bid for the Mombasa governor's race, is a key UDA pillar and is said to have preferred EALA to being PS. 

It was also during the same meeting that outgoing EALA MP Abdikadir Aden was included in the shortlist, setting him up against former nominated senator Falhada Iman who hails from the same Garissa county.

Iman, who was nominated by the Jubilee Party in the 2017 polls, stuck with Ruto when the party wanted to kick her out from Parliament after then President Uhuru Kenyatta launched a ruthless purge on Ruto allies.

Even as some names were dropped with a promise of being considered for other posts in the future, the final list painted a picture of a well thought out reward scheme to payback loyalty.

Another top beneficiary in the President's camp was his former secretary general of the defunct United Republican Party Fred Muteti, a clear frontrunner.

Muteti, who has served as the chairman of the Sports Kenya Board, was prevailed upon by Ruto to step down favour of Kyungu Stanley who vied for the Makueni parliamentary seat. 

He was later appointed the Kenya Kwanza presidential campaign coordinator for the South Eastern region as Ruto intensified boardroom consensus to boost UDA chances.

When the UDA final shortlist came out on Wednesday, it had Omar, Muteti, Falhadha, Abdikadir, Bajaber, former nominated MP David Sankok and former Nandi woman representative Zipporah Kering.

Others are Rebecca Lewoiya who vied for the Turkana women representative's seat, Godfrey Karobia, Anne Too, Jonas Kuko, Cyprian Iringo, Lilian Cheptoo and Salim Mohammed.

Raila's ODM party was also rocked with massive horse trading at the last minute before the final list was submitted to Parliament.

With Raila in Egypt for the COP27 climate conference, the top management of the party led by Oparanya held a meeting on Tuesday night to craft the final list.

The Star has established that Raila had given clear instructions that the final list must include all groups, tasking the team to also ensure it had a national face.

The instructions, according to Orange party sources, saw some of Raila's relative dropped in favour of other regions, including Gusii that had missed out on minority slots in Parliament.

Raila’s cousin George Midiwo and Siaya Senator Dr Oburu Odinga’s son Jaoko Oburu were dropped, leaving Raila's daughter Winnie to represent Luo Nyanza.

ODM national treasurer Timothy Bosire who hails from Nyamira was included in the list to assuage the community and enhance the inclusion of the Abagusii.

Bosire is a the longest-serving ODM treasurer and staunch Raila ally who has walked with the party leader since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1992.

The former Kitutu Masaba MP lost in his bid for Nyamira governor's seat in the August 9 election. 

If he goes through, Bosire will be Raila's main man in Kisii and Nyamira after key politicians from the region joined Ruto's camp.

Former Kisii governor James Ogwae and former woman representative Janet Ong'era resigned from ODM two weeks ago, leaving the region under Bosire.

His nomination to EALA will boost the ODM chief's fortunes in the region as Ruto plots to turn the tables on the him ahead of 2027.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna who is also the ODM secretary general told the Star that the final list was made up of “people committed to the course of the party.”

“We submitted capable people with immense experience, people who have played an active role in the party campaigns and are loyal to the party,” he said.

“We have a good regional spread and gender with Winnie Odinga being even younger than me.”

The final ODM list had Winnie, Bosire, Mombasa businessman Suleiman Shahbal, former Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito, Mohammed Diriye and Beatrice Askul.

Wiper, a member of Raila'a Azimio coalition, nominated party chief Kalonzo Musyoka’s son Kennedy Kalonzo, Winfred Mutua and Hellen Ndeti.

The nominees are expected to intensify their campaigns in the coming days to lobby members of Parliament for support across the board.

MPs will take a vote on November 17 by way of secret ballot to pick 9 members out of the list of 27.

 

(edited by Amol Awuor)