Observers may need to decode what President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto say. Sometimes they call a spade a big spoon.
Speaking to Kamba leaders at State House, last week, the President said, "I have delivered more in my second term than in my first term, thanks to the handshake."
The second term has seen the Executive duo pulling apart: The president is working on his legacy. The DP is preoccupied with succession, and isolating the President from his base.
Multi-billion shillings were lost in scandals during the first term. The cases in court include Sh791 million lost in the National Youth Service heist, the Sh1.5 billion was lost at the National Insurance Fund and Sh1.9 billion at Kenya Pipeline in the Kisumu oil jetty scam.
Kenya Power, an ongoing scandal, lost Sh4.5 billion, while Sh63 billion was lost in procurement in Arror and Kimwarer dams.
The handshake is a post-2017 election peace accord between the President and ODM leader Raila Odinga. The handshake is the flashpoint between the President and the DP.
The President was also quoted saying: "I will support one of the National Super Alliance principals for 2022."
Raila Odinga, former vice-presidents Kalonzo Musyoka, and Musalia Mudavadi are Nasa principals and are both 2022 presidential aspirants. Raila is also expected to stand.
However, Kalonzo is reportedly settling for Prime Minister post in the expanded Executive proposed inn the BBI. Mudavadi is not sure whether Nasa is dead or alive but he knows he has a higher chance of inheriting ODM strongholds, unless he is discrediting Elijah Masinde's legendary prophecy that, 'Ingo' shall receive the presidential standard via Lake Victoria.
The President in 2020 said his choice for 2022 would surprise everyone and his hint of supporting a Nasa principal kills any surprises. During Madaraka Day celebrations in Kisumu, the President said, "I look forward to working with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and other leaders to push Kenya forward."
"Your shemeji (South African minister Sisulu) has called my brother Raila the President of Kenya. Anawatakia mazuri. I hope her dream comes true, soon."
The President says he won't support his deputy. President Daniel Moi told Vice-President George Saitoti to know the difference between friendship and leadership in 2002. Kanu leadership changes ahead of elections gave the late Saitoti a clear picture of Moi succession algorithm.
The DP is yet to accept the Jubilee succession plot. His angry response to the President's hint he would support a Nasa principal, showed it. Last week Ruto, who has been rich in doublespeak, came close to red-carding the President.
The President and the DP know when unitary leadership moved Kenya. The President says the Jubilee government has delivered more after the March 9, 2018, amity with Raila. The DP also confirms the economy prospered during Kibaki presidency. The current infrastructure gains were mooted when Kibaki worked with Raila between 2008 and 2012.
The DP is recycling Kibaki technocrats to legitimate his newfound bottom-up economic model, and the hustler subterfuge. Hustlerism, disguised as an organising principle for equitable restructuring of the polity, is fossilised incitement of class despondency.
Kibaki stabilised the economy during the second term he shared with Raila. Jubilee has achieved more during the last four years with the propping of the former PM. Some of the President's allies support a Raila presidency. They call it a 'Mandela Moment'. The late Nelson Mandela was a transitional president from apartheid South Africa from 1994.
Mandela and Raila are history-markers.
Robert F. Kennedy, in a June 6, 1966, address at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, said: "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped."
