3 major issues that may deny Uhuru Kenyatta the +1 he needs to beat Raila Odinga

As August 8th draws nearer, several questions have come up as to why President Kenyatta has spent time in the opposition strongholds. The President, having compensated integrated IDPs, has come under criticism from Kenyans as to why he decided to use this time to do that.

Jubilee seems bent on hunting for votes in the Opposition strongholds, just enough to get past the 50+1 mark. However, these actions might not have positive effects on the party’s vote hunt.

 

1. 1. Inclusivity of communities in government – President Uhuru Kenyatta recently visited Kisii and Nyamira counties, where he compensated integrated IDPs – who had been therefore the last 10 years. The Kisii community is known to have very solid human capital. E.g – the most effective Cabinet Secretary is said to be Fred Matiang’i. It would have been prudent for the President to have many more Kisii’s serving in senior positions in the public sector.

2. 2. Several people from the Kisii community have been appointed in the public sector, but there have been complaints saying that the appointments are all from the same family. On the same, many of the appointed ones do not get promoted enough to feel like they have been included in Uhuru’s government.

3. 3. The Integrated IDP compensation may have been a case of “Too little too late” for the President. It has been many years since they got displaced and many of them, though compensated would ask “Why now?” “Why 2 months before elections?”. This might have an effect on the number of votes Jubilee get since the integrated IDPs might feel like they were neglected for a long time.