By OSCAR OBONYO

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta launches a new political vehicle today against a backdrop of his rising influence on the political scene and in Government.

With President Kibaki on the homestretch to retirement, Uhuru has become a key player in his administration who is understandably consulted on virtually every crucial matter of national stature.

Opinion is, however divided, as to whether Uhuru is the “anointed one” with the backing of State House or whether his growing influence is a result of political scheming.

Uhuru resigned earlier as Finance Minister when the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed post-election charges against him, but declined to relinquish the DPM position. Despite his diminished status on paper as minister without portfolio, Uhuru who is yet to be assigned an official office remains influential in Government.  

ODM Parliamentary Group Secretary Ababu Namwamba argues the manner in which Cabinet and other appointments are made lately appears to favour Uhuru’s immediate political interests.

Claiming that he is still “clinging on to the post of DPM for political purpose”, the Budalang’i MP claims all these are geared at strengthening him for higher office.

The DPM’s director of communication, Munyori Buku, says part of the so-called Uhuru State House influence is out of the mere fact that he is a senior partner in the PNU coalition of parties, who occasionally has to consult with the President.

“Uhuru’s Kanu party was a major partner in the Kibaki side of the coalition. As a senior partner of the same, it is not out of the ordinary for the President and Uhuru to consult or for the latter to defend ministers from his mother party, where necessary,” says Buku.

Pundits have, for instance, claimed Uhuru influenced the last Cabinet reshuffle, where his close allies in the G7 grouping Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa and Kigumo MP Jamleck Kamau, were appointed Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Nairobi Metropolitan ministers. Another Kanu ally, Sam Ongeri, was moved to  high profile Foreign Affairs docket.

Equally, Mutula Kilonzo was moved from the Justice ministry to Education. Mutula had irked Uhuru and his supporters over his persistent reminder to the Gatundu South MP and his Eldoret North counterpart William Ruto that as suspects before the ICC, they were ineligible to bid for presidency.

But this is not the first intervention by Uhuru. When, in February 2010, the PM suspended Ruto and  Ongeri as Agriculture and Education ministers following corruption scandals in their respective ministries, Uhuru reportedly led a protest team to State House. Owing to his intervention, the President overruled his co-principal by revoking the suspensions.

Moi’s shadow
Joseph Magutt, a political science lecturer at Kenyatta University, attributes Uhuru’s political meteoric rise to unshackling himself from former President Moi’s shadow.

This, says Magutt, has helped nurture him. Uhuru has been so determined to cut an independent image to the extent he declined to get on board two political vehicles, United Democratic Forum (UDF) and Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi’s “bus”, Alliance Party of Kenya — which were believably crafted for him. It is because of the same reasons that Uhuru opted out Kanu.

Those close to the DPM say he is finally at home with his new outfit – The National Alliance party. His decision to drop his presidential bid in 2007 in support of Kibaki’s campaign, according to Magutt, further endeared him to the Central Kenya electorate.

“Individuals have been gravitating around him because he is Kibaki’s blue-eyed boy. That goes to inform the influence he wields,” says Magutt.
In Central Kenya, the fervent support for Uhuru is such that one female Cabinet minister recently threatened to strip naked if the DPM’s political career is curtailed by the case at the International Criminal Court, where Uhuru is a suspect for fanning post-election violence.

Political cult-like
Brand Uhuru has indeed become a near-political cult, with politicians jostling for his endorsement. Many more are engaged in loyalty contests, while the fervent Uhuru-backers, including Kigumo’s Jamleck Kamau, Elias Mbau (Maragua), Clement Wambugu (Mathioya) and Maina Kamau (Kandara), recently swore by the Bible to stick by him.

Macharia Munene further attributes Uhuru’s growing influence to some people’s feeling he has unfairly targeted for prosecution at the ICC. “Uhuru’s popularity in Central Kenya has everything to do with sympathy among the electorate.

He is viewed as a victim for trying to help people who were under serious attack from elsewhere,” says Prof Munene, a lecturer at the United States International University.

The ICC impediment notwithstanding, Mathira MP Ephraim Maina maintains the region is soldiering on with Uhuru as the preferred presidential candidate: “We are not in the business of looking for a flag bearer because we already have one.

And those speculating on the ICC cases should learn not to mix legal matters with politics. For all we know, Uhuru and group are innocent unless proved otherwise.”

Nonetheless, the MP, who is also chairman of Central Kenya Parliamentary Group, encourages Uhuru to join hands with leaders from other communities with a view to build coalitions: “A union between leaders from different tribal groupings is a healthy undertaking that should be encouraged as a way of helping to calm down political tensions and unifying Kenyans.”

But Namwamba is heavily opposed to the tribal approach to politics: “It is not wrong for Kenya to have another Kikuyu President, but let those who want to occupy the office of President campaign on the platform of Kenya. And I ask my brother Uhuru to condemn and distance himself from the so-called Gema and Kamatusa groupings geared at balkanising our country.”

“All those using tribe to mobilise for political support should take heed of the National Security Intelligence Service alert that they are setting up this country on the same path of violence as in the last polls,” warns the ODM official.

The tribalised approach and the jostling for Uhuru, explains Magutt, is due to the realisation Kibaki is exiting the seat and politicians must realign themselves in accordance with the new realities. “This fundamentally narrows down to Uhuru, who is their new man,” he says.

However, Buku attributes Uhuru’s rising star to hard work and humility. Uhuru, he says, was only 17 years old when his father, Kenya’s First President, passed on and unsuccessfully made his first attempt at elective politics 18 years later.

Chapter Six
“Contrary to the usual tired claim that he rode on his father’s name to get into politics, Uhuru vied for a parliamentary seat and was rejected by voters, like anybody else, but made it at the second stab, from where he has gradually grown politically,” he says.

According to Magutt, Uhuru has many hurdles to overcome, the top three being the ICC question and Chapter Six of the Constitution with regard to integrity for those seeking elective posts. But his Achilles’ heels, claims the expert, is that he comes from Central Kenya.