NASA and Jubilee lay winning plans

Kakamega gubernatorial aspirant Boni Khalwale, senatorial aspirant Sammy Washiko and NASA Principal Moses Wetang’ula at a Ford Kenya rally at Khwisero sports ground in Kakamega. [Benjamin Sakwa and Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

With the start of the official campaign date set for May 28, both Jubilee and the National Super Alliance (NASA) have laid out initial plans to get their activities rolling.

Last week, the Jubilee Party nominated President Uhuru Kenyatta to seek re-election a few days after NASA gave Raila Odinga its ringing endorsement. The two sides have now embarked on fine-tuning their campaign teams even as the noise from the disruptive internal party nominations dies down.

Friday, Norman Magaya, a strategist in the NASA campaign team said their principal objective will be to marshal the numbers for the opposition.

Joint rally

“We have done our math and know what numbers we are targeting. We have put in place an elaborate mechanism of achieving our target,” said Magaya, the head of the NASA secretariat which has already rolled out its “10 Million Strong” rallying call in reference to the 10 million votes it is targetting.

Before the presidential campaign is rolled out, the Opposition will test the waters with a series of rallies in the next few days.

NASA will hold its first joint rally in Nakuru tomorrow followed by another crusade in Kisii on Wednesday before the team heads off to the North Eastern region ahead of Ramadhan.

Its presidential flagbearer Raila, who is in Israel, is expected in the country today ahead of tomorrow’s rally that will be attended by the other principals Isaac Ruto, Moses Wetang’ula, Musalia Mudavadi and Kalonzo Musyoka.

“As for now we don’t have a defined campaign programme that has been approved, but once that is done we will inform you,” Magaya said.

But in Mombasa, Governor Hassan Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi have said they will launch a series of caravans to galvanize their supporters and ensure they come out to vote on polling day.

One of the strategies of the NASA team is to get its Pentagon members to marshall support in their political backyard. NASA hopes to lock out Jubilee from the Coast, Ukambani, Nyanza and Western regions, with leaders from the area now mandated to deliver votes in accordance with a power-sharing agreement deal that gave each of the five principals a stake in government should the opposition win.

In 2013, Mudavadi ran for president and got about half a million votes, which NASA now anticipates will be added to its basket.

Governor Ruto has been tasked to lock about 25 per cent of the Rift Valley, while Raila is expected to secure the vote in Nyanza even as Kalonzo locks the Upper Eastern region.

Like NASA, Jubilee’s campaign itinerary is not yet clear. “We are yet to come up with the campaign itinerary; maybe by next week we will have it ready,” said JP’s communication officer Albert Memusi Friday.

By Friday, planning meetings were still going on at a city hotel even as Deputy President William Ruto toured parts of Nyanza.

He stopped over in Migori and Nyamira counties where party officials who accompanied him issued nomination certificates to candidates.

Today he will be in Mumias, Kakamega County. The Deputy President described opposition leaders as opportunists as he sought to whip up support for Jubilee in areas that have been perceived as the stronghold of their rivals.

Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja said Jubilee had done its homework and was ready to roll an aggressive campaign.

“We are dealing with the aftermath of the nominations as we seek to unite both winners and losers.

“After that we will roll out our campaigns. However, it doesn’t mean because one is not shouting, nothing is taking place,” Sakaja said in reference to criticisms that the party’s campaigns have been too muted  compared to the 2013 campaign.

Strong message

Analyst Elias Mokua says that although the campaigns started a long time ago, both sides may not have a strong message to sway voters.

“In terms of intensity, this is a cold war like situation. In 2013, the campaigns were more emotional,” Dr Mokua, who heads the Jesuit Hakimani Centre, said.

At the time Uhuru camp was able to effectively harness its supporters using their indictment at the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an emotive rallying call.

Jubilee, then comprised of the defunct TNA and URP as the main parties, capitalised on ICC cases where both Uhuru and Ruto had been indicted and accused their main rival Raila of being behind their troubles.

Jubilee then organised what were referred to as marathon prayer rallies across the country that raised the stakes of the elections.

This time, Raila is trying to paint Jubilee as an exclusivist coalition that disregards Kenyans who do not come from areas where the party enjoys the bedrock of its support.