What Are They Up To?
After it became clear that Kibaki and several powerful individuals are grooming Musalia Mudavadi for the presidency, Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp went into panic mode. It was all along believed that Kibaki’s support and the subsequent state resources were Uhuru’s for the taking, but that mentality has in recent days fizzled out, following Mudavadi’s action.
Mudavadi has continued to represent Kibaki in various functions, including delivering the president’s speech during the burial of Martin Shikuku. Everywhere he goes, he is accorded full state protection, including services of a military chopper.
Initially, it was thought that Mudavadi was being brought into the race solely to prevent Raila from ascending to the presidency by splitting his vote basket, which would then give Uhuru an easy ride to the throne, but it is now emerging that ‘Project Mudavadi’ was brought into the race with an intention of getting into State House. Apparently, individuals close to the president, namely his private secretary Nick Wanjohi and Nyeri businesswoman, Mary Wambui, realized that Kenyans would gang up against efforts to give them another Kikuyu president. They calculated that if Uhuru were to go for a runoff with Raila, most of the other tribes would gang up against Uhuru, by virtue of being a Kikuyu, thus giving Raila an easy ride. Armed with such statistics and intelligence from the NSIS, they came up with a fool proof plan, which was to have Mudavadi as a presidential candidate.
The biggest hurdle however, was to pull Mudavadi out of ODM, a task which proved to be next to impossible. For many months, Mudavadi was seduced but not even the promise of an automatic presidential candidature would lure him. So, to add pressure on Mudavadi, Wanjohi and his camp decided to give the deputy premier competition in his Western backyard. They had to plant a ‘half sellable’ puppet in Western, a move that saw the rise and rise of Eugene Wamalwa. He was strategically given visibility and power so that Western could see an alternative leader in him. In politics, no politician is ready to welcome a replacement and Mudavadi was no different. When Eugene declared that he was to contest the presidency, Mudavadi’s camp was rattled and they had to rethink their strategy. He was now staring at the risk of losing his Western backyard to a newcomer. Whether or not he was aware that Wamalwa was reading from a prepared script, the threat was real and had to be countered. What better way than to vie for the presidency himself, and what better party than the one he is assured of state resources; the one he had all along declined?
Flash forward to the present, Uhuru Kenyatta realized that he is being sidelined, and even his previous ‘anytime’ gate pass to statehouse reportedly revoked. He is said to be doing everything possible to avoid meeting the people who used him and dumped him at the Hague. During the commemoration of his father’s death, he was conspicuously absent. At that time, he had taken a trip to meet his legal team in Europe, before departing for Dubai for a well deserved ‘holiday’. However, on his so called vacation, Uhuru was accompanied by close friend and Kikuyu mp, Lewis Nguyai. It is believed that the Dubai trip was just time out, to evaluate and re-strategize his political future.
Soon after the trip, communication between the deputy premier and man he deputizes began. During the past few weeks, Citizen weekly paper is reporting that Uhuru and Raila have made several phone calls. Allegedly, the two talk at least twice per week, a situation which never used to happen a few weeks back. Uhuru is said to have briefed Raila before he departed to campaign in Ndhiwa, and Raila made sure that he was welcomed well. Raila also made a phone call to Uhuru before going to Kangema. Unlike other calls, Raila treats Uhuru’s very seriously, and anytime he is in the midst of people, he excuses himself to take it privately.
This new found friendship is in bid to counter Mudavadi, whom they see as a project out to prevent both of them from getting to State House. It will be interesting to watch how events unfold.
© nairobiwire.com
