President Kenyatta has changed tack in his campaign to popularise the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in Mt Kenya and counter the influence of his Deputy President William Ruto in the restive region.
The new strategy includes personally taking charge of the referendum campaigns, punishing rebel MPs, dishing out goodies to key target groups and building consensus with leaders across the political divide.
President Kenyatta will take charge of the referendum campaigns to have proposals to change the Constitution passed. He will hold nationwide meetings starting with Mt Kenya before moving to other regions, while accompanied by friendly governors and MPs.
The campaign to popularise the BBI in the region was initiated by the administrators, but now Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, governors and MPs are among those roped in.
Cabinet Secretaries, the Nation has established, are on the ground to inspect the progress of development projects and list the ones the President will launch. An address to the country on Swahili radio stations is also planned.
Technocrats from the region have also been asked to help the BBI cause, especially in their rural areas. The teams are to come up with a schedule to popularise the document.
The President has also launched a political onslaught against Dr Ruto’s allies, with the first target being nominated Senator Isaack Mwaura.
First target
President Kenyatta’s Jubilee and Mr Raila Odinga’s ODM have launched a twin attack on Mr Mwaura, citing disloyalty to his party and alleged incitement of the public to violence.
The Jubilee party disciplinary committee has summoned the senator to appear before it for violating the party constitution by “pledging allegiance to another party, acting in a manner that is disloyal to Jubilee party and contravening the Jubilee party code of conduct”.
Jubilee disciplinary committee chairman Lumatete Muchai and party secretary-general Raphael Tuju confirmed that Mr Mwaura had been summoned following a complaint lodged by the party’s chairman, Mr Nelson Dzuya.
“Yes, we have started the process and the senator will be expected to appear before the committee to answer to the charges,” Mr Muchai told the Nation.
Among the accusations facing Mr Mwaura are that on December 31, 2020, in Msambweni Constituency, he acted contrary to the conduct expected of a Jubilee member when he publicly announced his new-found political allegiance to the United Democratic Alliance party during the homecoming party of the newly-elected MP Feisal Bader.
He is also accused of wearing another party’s branding material other than that of Jubilee, proclaiming that Jubilee party is dead through Kenya Diaspora Media USA on April 22, 2020.
“…stating on Citizen TV on January 14, 2020 that Jubilee party is dead, it is not a party but a name, a song and two or three colours.”
On the other hand, the Orange party has written a formal complaint to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) over Mr Mwaura’s utterances which it says border on incitement to violence.
Inciting violence
“Just a week ago, nominated Senator Isaack Mwaura was captured on video inciting violence ahead of a visit by the Rt Hon Raila Odinga to Githurai.
“He had both a tribal and class message; that people of Hon Odinga’s tribe were not welcome to Githurai and that the so called hustlers should rise up and defeat the dynasties,” ODM’s disability league chairperson Nickson Kakiri writes in the letter dated February 1, 2021.
President Kenyatta’s other part of the plan is to consolidate consensus building, which he began in his Mt Kenya political backyard in the last four days where he poured out his heart to the youth, elders, MPs and MCAs in meetings at the Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri.
He has also encouraged other leaders, including Mr Odinga, Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and ANC Leader Musalia Mudavadi to meet their respective MCAs and lobby them to pass the draft constitutional amendment Bill.
The draft Bill will require support of a majority of county assemblies (24) before it is tabled in Parliament ahead of a referendum.
Yesterday, Mt Kenya MCAs Caucus chairperson Charles Mwangi told the Nation they will heed the President’s call to pass the Bill in the next 30 days.
County assemblies clustered as Mt Kenya allied — Nairobi, Kiambu, Murang’a, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Embu, Nyandarua, Laikipia, Tharaka Nithi and Meru — have agreed to pass the Bills.
The President has also lined up goodies for MCAs, youth and women groups to reach out to the key blocks who will make or break the referendum. MCAs got the first bite of the cherry last week when they were promised Sh2m car grants.