• But it is the public’s discontent with local leaders that seem to be shafting the president’s project more than anything else.
• Deserted by his former chief propagandists and campaigners, Uhuru's backers are a collection of old, unpopular and unconvincing politicians, mostly governors.
Image: OZONE
As a passionate President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke to GEMA leaders at Sagana state lodge in November, 2019, one could not fail to feel his genuine desire to leave a lasting legacy on revenue sharing and equity, especially for the people in the mountain. He repeated the same last week in a radio address to his ethnic political base.
In Sagana, he pleaded, “I could even go out there and get knocked down by a bus, but what will I leave behind for you, and our nation.”
What has changed and why is the president’s project limping?
A multiplicity of factors is at play in the most populous region in the country. For starters, central region counties contribute close to 40% of the nation’s GDP according to statistics from the state agency, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Their county revenue allocation from the exchequer, on the other hand, remains comparatively low as compared to the bottom of the table GDP contributors; this by an average ration of two to one. According to the president, his constitutional intervention, and what he has variously referred to as the ‘ constitutional moment’, is aimed at correcting this misnomer while guaranteeing least developed regions continued national support.
One year later, this president’s project – the Building Bridges Initiative - seems to be facing very strong headwinds, coincidentally driven from his own home region which is poised to benefit most.
At the back of these dwindling political fortunes is a general feeling and perception of neglect by the Kenyatta presidency on the Mount Kenya region. For example, opponents of the BBI have cited massive national government projects in other regions which never as much supported the president – vote wise - as compared to the central region. The cat had been let out in an address made by the president’s MP Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), in December 2018. The sentiments, especially coming from once President Kenyatta’s ardent supporter and soldier, seem to have struck with a sizeable constituency in the region.
This perception has not been helped by declining returns from the region’s major cash crops like coffee, tea, rice and miraa, and of course the dairy industry. In the dairy sector, for example, where milk prices plummeted to historical lows of less than Sh20 per kilo, the finger was quickly pointed at the president’s family which is the largest investor in the sector; never mind the evidence presented, or lack of, his opponents had found a perfect bogeyman.
The political schisms between the president and his deputy too have not helped matters either. Riding on the failing economy from dwindling agriculture returns, a purge on counterfeits which again hit businesspeople from the mountain most, and a populist (hate) campaign which roped in Kikuyu musicians, the president’s deputy used vocal regional politicians to discredit not just the BBI, but the president too. For Uhuru, his once stable backyard was now poisoned – using his language, and by those once closest to him; people started believing, and drifting away.
But it is the public’s discontent with local leaders which seem to be shafting the president’s project more than anything else. Deserted by his former chief propagandists and campaigners, Kenyatta’s backers are a collection of old, unpopular and unconvincing politicians. The governors, for example, who were charged with the exercise, found a platform to resurrect their dwindling political fortunes.
Interestingly, too, political competition among the same regional governors, especially two first termers, threatened to torpedo the boat and a collective BBI strategy.
“There arose an internal contest pitting a few governors over the control of the process in the region. You saw the push and pull even for sitting arrangements in Meru, to an extent even the host governor was almost shadowed in the supremacy contest,” a governor conversant with the intrigues noted, “this has resulted in some of the governors retreating hoping for direction from the president. We also expected him to rescue this noble project from some very unpopular characters.”
Also feeling left out were members of parliament and possible contestants for various posts. For example, in the three Mount Kenya east counties of Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi, the BBI signature collection exercise was snubbed by all legislators except for two, Imenti North Rahim Dawood and Igembe North Maoka Maore. Leaders in the meeting castigated the absent legislators with Meru governor calling those opposed to the process “unwise”.
The same happened in Nyandarua county where two factions pitting the governor and Water CS Sicily Kariuki led different exercises. Governor Francis Kimemia accused, for the umpteenth time, the Water CS of “going round the county pretending to be inspecting government projects when we know she is campaigning to be governor.”
On her part, Kariuki asked the governor to concentrate on his mandate and allow her to deliver on the president’s promises, “and Nyandarua is my home where I can come every time I want.”
In Murang’a county, Governor Mwangi wa Iria is also embroiled in a supremacy battle with Water PS Joseph Wairagu. While the governor is serving his second and final term, Wairagu’s entry seems to have upset his succession arithmetic.
Similar fight is taking place in Kirinyaga where Anne Waiguru, is battling it out with Interior PS Karanja Kibicho and Senator Charles Kibiru. In all these instances, BBI packaging and the president’s message, whatever noble intentions, has suffered.
Highly unpopular on the ground, and bereft of any tangible results to show, majority of central region’s governors face an impatient electorate complaining of unfulfilled promises in the midst of piling allegations of corruption. Hence, to the disadvantage of the BBI, regional heads have instead turned the president’s project into personal tools of survival. First, they have schemed and orchestrated camps for self-preservation; and second, they have rarely elucidated on the benefits of the president’s project to their people, denying voters an honest opportunity to make rational decisions. Here, the plot is slowly slipping away and getting lost – sacrificed at the altar of political survival.
But the president, too, is not without blame. At the national level, the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a government whose priority list is insensitive and out of touch with the common man – the voter. While millions of citizens were struggling with the most of basic necessities, the president’s men, including his handshake partner Raila Odinga, kept drumming up the BBI gospel to an already nauseated populace struggling for survival.
A deeply wounded nation reeling from a debilitating global pandemic, and with millions without two coins to rub together, was not ready for what was to befall them, again: the Covid-19 Kenya Medical Supplies Agency heist where billions were allegedly lost. It did not help that some of the president’s men were mentioned as the architects and beneficiaries. And for the head of state, his promise and direction for full action within 21 days, which long lapsed without any tangible results, further undermined his word and attraction to the suffering citizenry.
With the opposition, led by his own principal assistant, amplifying this graft allegation and juxtaposing it as a direct affront on the dying Kenyans, and especially frontline healthcare workers striking for lack of protective gear, it would never have been a worse period for the BBI, its proponents, and the president. For a government perceived to have weaponised the war on corruption against its opponents, the shoe was now on the other foot. Once again, the people believed.
Hence, today, for the president, his task has never been more defined: go to your people directly, for the leaders you sent, especially the governors, have largely lost the goodwill of the electorate, and the message will be rejected together with the messengers.
Even better, Kenyans, and especially those from your backyard who have been hurt most, want to see a ruthless purge against corruption – a fight blind to loyalty or affiliation.
Over to you, Sir.