Is a controversial political analyst advising State House (pictured) on how to deflate Deputy President William Ruto’s presidential run? Some allies of the DP say so. Just a day after putting out several tweets about why the Kikuyu and the Kalenjins have to give way to other communities for the country’s top job, President Uhuru Kenyatta repeated just that on Saturday. The analyst is now advocating for what he calls a “matatu presidency” that will carry many communities at the top. He is strongly against a philosophy that he manufactured in 2013. Interestingly, he is now an unwanted man in the Ruto camp despite having been was widely celebrated by the same camp in the last two elections. How first Kenyan politics change?
A governor from Northern Kenya has come under a scathing attack from his Senator over a posh hotel he is putting up in Nairobi’s Karen area. The senator blasted the governor in one of his social media posts, has called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to probe the governor over the use of county funds. The lawmaker says the new project is one of the many hotels the county chief owns across the country, including a four-star hotel in his own county. The governor is said to have built a massive financial war-chest with tentacles in the hotel industry.
Maybe the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission needs to look at Homa Bay County with a close eye. Why? The county is in full campaign mode. Aspirants have come out complete with branded regalia and huge trucks campaigning in roadshows. If you land in the region, you will imagine there is a by-election in the county. It is whispered that the recent declaration by one of the heavyweights has changed the conversation and sent all the spirants on panic mode. The name-calling on the “blogosphere” by supporters has been heightened 18 months to the elections.
A former MP from Central region who has been hobnobbing with the Tangatanga faction allied to Deputy President William Ruto could be headed to the Kieleweke wing that coalesces around President Uhuru Kenyatta. The ex-lawmaker, a wealthy businessman in his own right, could have clashed with a senior Tangatanga member from Mt Kenya region in the recent past. Should the former legislator land in the Kieleweke wing, he could give Ruto’s allies in the region a run for their money. He is said to be angling for a gubernatorial seat and is seen as a frontrunner in a race being billed as a battle between Tangatanga and Kieleweke factions of the Jubilee Party.