Western to wait longer as President Uhuru Kenyatta visit is postponed

President Uhuru Kenyatta                 Photo Standard

By JUMA KWAYERA

A congested diary, made worse by the recent terrorist attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi and a date with the International Criminal Court have conspired to delay President Uhuru’s planned visit of Western Kenya. Matters are not helped by the death on Monday of former Anglican Archbishop David Gitari, who played a key role in fight for  multiparty politics.

Uhuru should have toured Western region towards the end of last month, during which he was expected to attend the Anglican Church’s Mumias Diocese’s 20th anniversary, besides being the chief guest at Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka’s homecoming party, but security developments seem to have delayed the tour.

Eight MPs who met at Parliament to work on the president’s itinerary three days before Westgate terrorist attack told The Standard on Saturday they expected to be in Western Kenya for 10 days, even if it meant breaking the tour into phases to suit his diary.

After the High Court in Bungoma nullified the election of the county’s Senator Moses Wetang’ula, further stoking the bad blood between governing Jubilee coalition and the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD), it remains to be seen if the President will still make the trip before he travels to The Hague early next month. The trip has further been complicated by the demise of Lusaka’s mother-in-law, who will be interred this Saturday.

Lusaka told reporters in Bungoma that the trip is in abeyance as State House works on Uhuru’s diary. Earlier, the president’s spokesman would not confirm his visit to North Rift, Western and Nyanza, which would have taken him 10 days — same as the number of days he spent at the Coast.

Contacted earlier, Uhuru’s spokesman Manoah Esipisu said he was not aware of the trip to Western region.

“A request has to be made first and once it is accepted, it is put in his diary. So far, we have not received any request, so I cannot confirm anything,” Esipisu said.

Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali, who chairs the group of MPs working on President’s itinerary, told The Standard on Saturday that the president’s visit to Western would be critical to how the region relates with the Jubilee coalition.

“We have deliberated on the president’s possible itinerary. We have been working out an economic development agenda we want to present to the President. We want him to make an extensive tour of the region to be able to appreciate the urgency of the agenda to the area,” says Washiali.

He would not give details of the resolutions of the meeting also attended by Malava MP Malulu Injendi, Lugari MP Ayub Savula, Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe, Webuye East MP Alfred Sambu, Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama, Ikolomnai MP Bernard Shinali, Bumula MP Bonny Otsyula and Vihiga MP Yusuf Chanzu. The group consists of the mainly United Democratic Forum and New Ford Kenya. Parliamentary Majority Leader Adan Duale reportedly delivered a “special” message from the President.

Top of agenda include revival of the ailing Mumias Sugar factory, Pan Paper Mills, setting up of a fertiliser factory, mining and construction of hydropower stations on River Nzoia.

While in Bungoma, Uhuru is expected to commission the construction of the Chwele-Sirisia-Lwakhakha road.

Divide community

To Jubilee, Western is key to enhance political isolation of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Nyanza, as the collation plans to retain power in 2017, rekindling the ideological rivalry that set apart Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta and Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

Amidst the realignment, a professional body that met in Kakamega town last Saturday sees the overtures from the president’s The National Party (TNA) and Deputy President’s United Republican Party (URP) as a carefully choreographed attempt to keep the region divided as has been the case in the past 11 elections.

Although the Anglican Bishop Beneah Salala told The Standard on Saturday that the president’s tour is part of the church’s events to mark the anniversary of the Mumias Diocese, political leaders were optimistic that the tour would be critical to outlining the economic recovery roadmap for a region. Despite its high economic potential, Western ranks among the poorest regions of the country.

University of Nairobi law lecturer and political analyst Martin Oloo says Kenyatta’s tour of Western is a test of the resilience of Nyanza as a solid political bloc if Jubilee succeeds in wresting the region from CORD.

Uhuru is indirectly stoking a rebellion in Nyanza using Western. The former Prime Minister is still preaching the old doctrine that has balkanised the country,” posits Dr Oloo. The don, a resident of the region, says like an animal of prey that has scented blood, Jubilee is going on the offensive to wrest the region from CORD, starting with Western, more so because of the “welfare politics” that have largely failed in the region.

While Bishop Salalah maintains the visit is religious, initially set for this weekend before it was rescheduled to end of this month, it is notable that the President has had several trysts with some MPs at State House as he works behind the scenes to build an effective network to wrest support from the Orange Democratic Movement party, which still dominates politics in the region.

ICC trial

After Uhuru lost the 2002 presidential poll to Narc’s Kibaki, he retreated to networking behind the scenes, a political strategy that he has become adept at instead of public rallies, an approach Raila and Ruto are masters of. It is on the same principle Uhuru is attacking CORD zones.

TNA and URP have in the run-up to the ICC trials appeared to be scrambling for Western political bloc, but face resistance from a new movement led by Ken Butiko, ODM’s gubernatorial aspirant in the last elections, that has been gaining popularity. Butiko told The Standard on Saturday the issue was discussed in Kakamega last month at length, especially the plot to divide the community.

“Uhuru is the President of the country and is entitled to go to any part of Kenya. So we, as Luhyas, are going to shock people. No one should take us for granted,” Butiko says.

Since Jubilee was installed in power, Ruto has been the most visible senior government official in Western, having toured the region more than five times. But the President, who received hostile reception in Malava town in the countdown to the March 4 presidential election, has been cautious, preferring to host delegations from Western at State House to underline the fierce competition between TNA and URP face in the toss-up electoral bloc.

Political currency

When he was in Kakamega last month for the homecoming of Malava MP Moses Injendi Malulu, Ruto pledged Sh460 million for the rehabilitation of debilitated transport network in the sugar cane growing zone.

Asked about the President’s visit, Webuye MP Alfred Sambu was non-committal. However, he acknowledged meeting him at State House to raise concerns about the collapse of economic pillars, which has transformed debilitating poverty in the region into a “political currency” previous regimes have thrived on for political survival.

“Politics aside, I do not think it is morally correct for anybody to look for support in Western against the backdrop of biting poverty. I am alive to the needs of the region and I have personally raised our concerns about the collapse of Webuye Paper Mills, the sugar industry that is currently in turmoil and the once-thriving dairy industry,” Sambu told The Standard on Saturday.