Jubilee thrives as Orange leaders pull apart

Leadership wrangles continue to create havoc in ODM, and not even the death of party stalwart, Homa Bay Senator Otieno Kajwang’, has calmed the tensions.

And as Kajwang’s body lay at Nairobi’s Lee Funeral home, party leader Raila Odinga and leaders of rival groups in the botched ODM national elections of February, went into a retreat to share slots.

Nonetheless, the Orange party leaders emerged from the meeting more divided than united. As the giant party struggles for relevance, rivals in Jubilee coalition have embraced what they have fashioned as “politics of development”.

Majority Leader, Aden Duale, does not hide the fact that government is capitalising on the Opposition’s current political misfortunes. With ODM engrossed in internal battles, the ruling coalition is packaging itself as a development conscious government. “Our competitors have chosen the path of playing politics, and we wish them the best at that. From our end, however, we shall continue to engage our people more directly with a view to addressing their concerns,” Duale told The Standard On Sunday.

The Garissa Town MP says this is the route the ruling coalition has opted to follow. Jubilee, he says, has a social contract with Kenyans and will accordingly continue “to play only healthy politics” as it delivers on its election pledges.

Security nightmare

Except for latest ugly episodes of insecurity, which have painted President Uhuru Kenyatta in very bad light, Prof Macharia Munene opines the Jubilee strategy “has worked extremely well”.

“Insecurity is really damaging the reputation of this government and the President and his deputy do not appear to be doing much to arrest the situation. And judging by the time it even took him to assemble his Cabinet, Uhuru is creating a pattern of a leader who takes too long to make a decision and act,” observes Munene, who teaches History and International Relations at the United States International University (USIU).

In setting the pace as a development focused leadership, Jubilee has rolled out a slum upgrade programme in none other than in Lang’ata constituency, where the President’s key challenger, Raila Odinga, served as MP for more than two decades.

“He (President Uhuru) wants to make a huge political impact and a difference in people’s lives. He will try many other things that will give him political mileage, and Kibera, where Raila was MP for two decades is particularly a good target,” offers, Prof Amukowa Anangwe, who teaches Political Science at University of Dodoma, Tanzania.

Politics aside, the one-time Cabinet minister observes that the developments in Kibera are anyway part of Uhuru’s mandate and that the former Premier, area MP Kenneth Okoth and Kibera residents are all happy with the slum upgrading programme.

The project is being executed by the Devolution ministry, through the National Youth Service and the only disagreement is the contest for credit, with Raila insisting “the President has just picked up from where I left”.

“I appreciate the President is keen on Kibera. By the time I became MP of the area in 1992, Kibera was an established slum and famous worldwide. Kibera, like Mathare, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Kayaba, among many others, are products of policy failures by Kanu regime. Unless the policy issues are addressed, nothing will change. You will fix Kibera, but another slum will emerge elsewhere,” the former PM said.

Couched as “politics of development”, the Kibra project is just one of the programs in the so-called Opposition strongholds that the Jubilee Administration is engaged in across the country. Early this month, for instance, Machakos County governor Dr Alfred Mutua played host to President Uhuru, where “politics of development” was the running theme.

Empty politics

Without mentioning names, Mutua hit out at his party bosses for not embracing “politics of development” by practicing instead “empty politics”. He was roundly supported by the President, who advised that leaders should stop until the next General Election year.

In what has become the norm during such visits, President Kenyatta held brief consultations with local leaders where he listened to their challenges and responded accordingly. The so-called “town-hall style” plenary meetings, where the President meets a select group of opinion leaders and responds directly to their concerns has become Jubilee’s style of warming up to the people. According to Duale, this arrangement is helping the President to connect better with the electorate, besides offering instant results.

One such recent town-hall plenary meeting, during the official commissioning of the Olkaria IV energy plant in Naivasha, left investors in the energy sector an elated lot.

During the session, Polycarp Onyango petitioned the President to waive the mandatory fee of one percent of the value energy related projects, charged by the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema).

The figure is prohibitive considering that most investments in the sector are worth billions of shillings. The President obliged on the spot and Onyango is happy that the move will dissuade many against investing in neighboring countries.

Anangwe maintains Uhuru is playing politics with development: “Politics and development are inseparable. By its own definition, politics is about deciding who owns or gets what and how. And development is most politicized activity, particularly the allocation of resources as the President is doing.” However, the political scientist credits Jubilee for acting smart: “They have picked up a niche – political development – which they are sprinting away with”.