Brace for 2020 political tornado

There is no doubt former Mukurweini MP Kabando wa Kabando had been sent to deliver a strong message to those opposed to the Handshake and the Building Bridges Initiative, led by Deputy President William Ruto.

Speaking on a local television station a few days ago, Kabando was measured and decisive as he spoke of the changing political landscape that will be echoing President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga’s flourishing relationship.

The politician gave blow by blow of the forming tornado whose eye will be aimed at the champions of “pretentious politics”.

Ruto does not hide his disgust for the realignment of former sworn enemies Uhuru and Raila, who are now joined at the hip and are ready to form a major political alliance for the 2022 general election.

If Kabando’s sentiments are anything to go by, then we have seen nothing yet. From his discussion, the real body politic will burst from next year when the new political alliance will be launched amid fireworks in the ruling Jubilee Party.

The Deputy President, who with Baringo Senator Gideon Moi is fighting for the political pie and supremacy in Rift Valley, will be in the forefront of the exploding Jubilee firecrackers.

Will Ruto’s Central lieutenants still be standing behind him one year from now? So far they have been loyal, defying the head of state who has time and again asked them to divorce themselves from the 2022 politics in vain.

Currently, the region is divided – something that is as rare as the solar eclipse. Ruto’s grip on Central, considered the epicentre of Uhuru’s votes, is holding as long as the new alliance is in the horizon. As soon as it is launched, new alignments and realignments will pop up.

That will be the real deal. What is happening now could burst and go either way. Those who will go against the political tsunami of 2020 will have themselves to blame when they will be swept out by the deluge of the 2022 elections.

But then again, Central, in recent times, has undergone a paradigm shift thanks to the politics of inheritance. This is no baloney.

Had Uhuru not gone against his promise to support Ruto’s presidency in 2022, his political backyard would be tranquil. His laid-back approach to the body politic that speaks and dictates his region’s political direction has left holes that the DP has used to slip in and cause the shifts witnessed. Will the Meru and Embu vote go into the same basket?

According to Kabando, the President no longer has control over the National Assembly, with Ruto and his allies having a field day. This is why the proponents of Uhuru-Raila unity are calling for a total overhaul of Bunge to pave way for one that is more friendly to the President.

Next year will mark the beginning of the shifts that will see ODM join the super alliance with Wiper. Musalia Mudavadi has been critical of the Handshake and the newfound association between Uhuru and Raila but will he join the alliance?

Musalia is not known for political bravery but in the last couple of months he has shown he can be his own man by refusing to kotow to the emerging political scenes. But he could just cave in when the new alliance is formed.

The Mudavadis have deep familial and political relations with the Mois. This makes it possible for Gideon to reach out to the ANC boss and urge him into joining the alliance. In politics, anything can happen, even within a week, and 2020 or 2022 is a long time for politicians to change their allegiances. Existing gaps will be closed and others will be left to fester.

In Rift Valley, the existing political divide will be alive and well until the next general election. Gideon and Ruto will not work together even in the new political dispensation.