By Stephen Makabila and Edwin Cheserek

Leading presidential aspirants have now taken heightened campaigns for crucial support to another level, now raiding each other’s home-turf.

Over the past few weeks, none of the aspirants has had his/her hometurf safe as competition hits fever pitch, even with a whooping eigth-month to the tentative  March 4 election date.

Last weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta pitched tent in Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s North-Rift, with rallies in Turkana county.

As Uhuru was criss-crossing Turkana, Ruto was in Narok, at the southern end of the expansive Rift Valley region, consolidating home support.

And while Uhuru was in Rift Valley,  fellow DPM Musalia Mudavadi had just concluded his in-roads in Central Kenya, where he plainly challeged the Gatundu South MP to back his presidential bid.

After Central, Mudavadi went down to Nyanza, to raid Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s South Nyanza, with rallies in Migori, Kisii and Nyamira counties.

ODM pointman

Mudavadi has equally campaigned vigorously in Rift Valley over the last few weeks, especially in the North-Rift, believed to be the bossom of Ruto’s political support in the province.

Raila, who is out on an official visit to China, plans to tour Central, starting from Nyandarua when he comes back.

The PM has had several forays in Central and the Meru regions, where Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara has emerged as his pointman in the Mt Kenya region.

Raila has also criss-crossed Rift Valley, with his latest rallies having been at Nakuru and Eldama-Ravine.

ODM chair Henry Kosgey, his leading pointman, noted more rallies have been planned for the PM in Uasin-Gishu, Nandi, Elgeyo-Marakwet and West-Pokot  counties.

“We are going to hold more rallies and convert more people to ODM,” added the Tinderet MP.

United States International University (USIU-Kenya) lecturer Macharia Munene notes the aspirants must have realised home support cannot propel one to State House, and that they must cultivate a national constituency.

“For one to win the presidency, you need  to have support across the country  and that is exactly what aspirants are doing. Even in their home regions, they cannot get 100 per cent votes because there is nothing like bloc voting,” added Prof Macharia.

Political analyst Kipchumba Murkomen notes while some of the leading aspirants have ventured outside their strongholds, they have equally done much to consolidate home support.

“For a region like Rift Valley, one can venture there to seek support but you cannot ignore Ruto’s hold on the region’s votes going by the goodwill he enjoys,” added Murkomen.

While in Turkana, Uhuru promised residents that his government would give first priority to the locals to manage the oil resources that were discovered in the area, recently.

Belittling syndrome

He said oil is a national resource but the people of Turkana must have their share and that his government would ensure that if elected.

“Our mandate is to ensure every Kenyan gets equal share of national cake, but locals where such resources are found should benefit more as a right stipulated in the Constitution,” Uhuru told The National Alliance supporters in Turkana County.

He asked the pastoralists to deviate from a syndrome of belittling themselves as small tribe yet they have good numbers to allow him ascend to power.

“You are not a small tribe and you must demanding the rightful share of the national cake as citizens of Kenya,” he added.

The DPM extended an olive branch to Turkana North MP John Munyes who is also the Labour Minister and Ford Kenya official to join him in TNA.

Before the current trend of individual rallies, leaders within the now moribund G7 alliance vowed to no longer hold joint rallies previously christened ‘prayer rallies’.

Each of the alliance’s leading lights, among them Uhuru, Ruto, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Justice minister Eugene Wamalwa, have been holding individual rallies.

Uhuru-Wamalwa ties

Kalonzo, who a week ago had concentrated his efforts in lower Eastern region, has also been to Rift Valley, Central and Coast provinces. While in Coast, he sought former Tourism minister Najib Balala’s backing in his bid.

It’s only Uhuru and Wamalwa who held joint rallies recently in Kisii and later in Lamu, before Uhuru went solo in Turkana last weekend.

The joint rallies raised speculations of the  political chemistry between the two, given reports they could be chasing a joint presidential ticket, but Wamalwa has always maintained he would contest the presidency on his rebranded New Ford-Kenya ticket.

And despite going for support in each other’s strongholds, allies of Ruto and Uhuru feel the two, who face charges at the ICC, still require each other politically.

Eldoret Mayor William Rono, a close ally of Ruto, says the two leaders are still working together.

“We had calculated that a combination of the votes we want to deliver and that of Uhuru’s is enough to take either of them to State House,” said Rono.

Rono adds the race to succeed President Kibaki next year is not easy and the two must show they have good numbers.

Ruto recently revealed the plan by G7 members to go separately for the top seat in round one, but rally behind one of their own to secure the country’s presidency in a runoff.

However, it’s believed raw power ambitions among the members had made it hard to agree on who takes the team’s torch-bearer.

Mudavadi who is currently associated with the alliances, has been pushing for a compromise candidate to have a first round win, on the basis that round two would be expensive, but possibilities of a compromise seem to be dying-out by the day.