With only four months to the general election, the presidential battle has remained a two-horse race between former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto.
This is after President Uhuru Kenyatta managed to reach out to those who had a vision of succeeding him to shelve their ambitions and support Raila's candidature.
The move by Uhuru to unite small party leaders rattled Ruto, pushing him to form a counter-movement dubbed Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
Uhuru’s mission was very clear; to deflate Ruto’s chance of succeeding him after the August general election.
Uhuru went ahead and lobbied for Raila's candidature with the Mount Kenya Foundation tycoons who agreed to finance Raila's campaign.
Recent opinions polls have shown Raila’s performance in Mount Kenya and across the country has increased compared to 2017 when he faced Uhuru.
Ruto had for a long time enjoyed support from the region and was sure that he would get direct support.
However, this hasn’t materialised and that is why he spends most of his weekends in the region.
Uhuru has warned his supporters against supporting Ruto’s team claiming that they can’t be trusted with leadership.
During the recent Mount Kenya tour in Ruiru, Uhuru said that he won’t hand over power to a "thief".
A week later, Ruto would plead with Uhuru to stop campaigning for Raila and allow them to face off on the ground.
The latest financial allocations will totally puncture Ruto's campaigns and hurt his messaging.
The President's decision to allocate billions of shillings to critical sectors including food security and Universal Health Care will slow down the DP's campaigns.
You realise that Ruto has been all over claiming how Jubilee failed in its second term and how the handshake disrupted the Big 4 Agenda and vowing to complete the programmes if he wins the presidency.
That line of argument has been neutralised and might not hold water going forward. The President has deconstructed him.
In the next few days, the President is likely to start tours across the country and Mount Kenya to take the message on how he has set aside money to complete his legacy projects.
Political commentator spoke to the Star
