More than 22 million Kenyan voters are on August 9 expected to choose the president who will steer the country for the next five years. Four men are on the race to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta but the battle has shaped to be a contest between Deputy President Dr. William Ruto and Mzee Raila Odinga of Azimio Coalition.
Dr. Ruto is running on a platform to rebuild the economy which has been ruined by President Kenyatta’s reckless borrowing, squandering and wastage on non-priority projects. But Odinga who is backed by the State is relying on the outgoing president to propel him to the country’s top seat after being rejected in five previous polls.
President Kenyatta has betrayed Dr. Ruto, his former key ally who helped him to win presidency in the 2013 and 2017 polls. Mr. Kenyatta is now backing his former bitter rival, the opposition chief Odinga whom he roped into his government through a handshake deal in March 2018.
But the merger has not slowed down Dr. Ruto’s push to succeed his boss. His spirited fight is attributed to his skills to strategize well, wrestle vote rich Mt. Kenya region from the control of Kenyatta and make serious inroads into regions that were once considered Odinga’s strongholds including Coast and Western regions.
Both Western and Coast regions are fatigued by Odinga’s candidature having supported him in all the previous polls only to see him ending up in bed with the oppressors.
Dr. Ruto has a superior deal for the Western region. He has vowed to give them 30% stake in his government, make their kingpin Musalia Mudavadi the Chief Minister, nominate their sons and daughter to the cabinet and appoint many as parastatal heads.
Odinga on the other hand plans to retain Eugene Wamalwa as Defence secretary and nominate the outgoing Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya as Treasury CS.
But Odinga has kept off serious issues affecting the people of Coast including the shifting of major operations of Mombasa Port to a private farm in Naivasha and the controversial sale of the countries three ports to a Dubai based firm.
The DP led Kenya Kwanza coalition on June 28 exposed President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mzee Odinga for secretly selling Mombasa, Lamu and Kisumu ports to Dubai Port World FZE.
In a statement read by ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, Kenya Kwanza revealed that President Kenyatta illegally sold the ports of Mombasa, Lamu and Kisumu to the mentioned firm.
“In a secret deal under the guise of an Economic Cooperation Agreement with the United Arab Emirates, and which epitomises grand corruption; Uhuru has assented to a rip-off that will see a foreign privately registered entity – Dubai Port World FZE – take over these key national infrastructural assets,” Mudavadi stated.
Dr. Ruto made serious inroads in Coast which used to be in the hands of Odinga even before the sale of the ports. He is now enjoying an amazing support in Kwale, Kilifi and Lamu counties where he is UDA party is expected to bag a number of seats.
The Kenya Kwanza candidate has also promised to return port operations to Mombasa and bring those who had allocated themselves port jobs in Nairobi to book.
He explained that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was a noble idea but had been taken over by State capture, hence making it an impressive project with little benefit to the people.
“The port was moved to Nairobi and some people saw an opportunity to loot by awarding themselves its operations in Nairobi. The project would pay itself if it was implemented as envisaged,” said Dr. Ruto.
In 202, Autoport Freight Terminals Limited which belongs to the family of Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho came under scrutiny amid protests over political favoritism.
The firm controversially bagged multi-billion contracts after it was given exclusive operational rights of the Nairobi Inland Cargo Terminal by the Kenya Railways Corporation.
Autoport was also controversially awarded a license by Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) to put up a second grain bulk handling facility at the Mombasa port.
Dr. Ruto is the only presidential candidate who is vocal against the illegal dealings around the port which employs thousands of families at the coast and countrywide.
Ruto’s ability to win the August 9 polls has kept President Kenyatta busy in the backroom where he is a key player in Odinga campaigns. He forced Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka to drop his presidential bid and campaign for Odinga –Karua ticket.
And as the polls draw closer the president is now on car roof tops campaigning for Raila Odinga, a move that has baffled his Mt. Kenya and exposed the ODM leader as a State Project.
Ruto is proving unbeatable as Odinga, Azimio and its minions wage wars against Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to bend laws and manage elections their way. His bottom up economic model is now widely accepted and many ordinary Kenyans are relating with it as a viable means to create millions of jobs and revamp the economy.
The DP plans to replace the messy ‘trickle down economic’ model with bottom-up model whose blueprint is targeting to promote investments of ordinary Kenyans and empowering them financially to expand tax base and spur the economy.
