Deputy President William Ruto will unveil his manifesto on Thursday, the culmination of county economic forums that the Kenya Kwanza alliance has held across the country.
Dr Ruto, who is leaving nothing to chance in his bid to succeed his boss President Uhuru Kenyatta , has been traversing the country collecting views from Kenyans on what they expect from him if he is elected President on August 9.
“The Kenya Kwanza coalition will launch its manifesto tomorrow, Thursday, June 30 … from 6.30pm,” reads a message from DP Ruto’s presidential communication director Hussein Mohammed.
“The event will be the culmination of the most extensive public engagement exercise for a policy document in post-independence Kenya, outside the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission process.”
He added: “[The coalition] listened to the needs and aspirations, priorities and solutions as expressed and proposed by a cross-section of Kenyans in the agriculture and business sectors, and among various interest groups.”
Before he held the forums starting early this year, the DP went on a charm offensive in different regions and met professionals to draft the economic blueprints of their regions.
The manifesto, Mr Mohammed said, only captures the views and aspirations of Kenyans and not what the alliance described as a boardroom economic blueprint.
“During these engagements, Kenyans expressed their views, shared their ideas, and spoke of their hopes and expectations,” he said.
“In line with the bottom-up economic approach, it is these priorities by ordinary citizens and input from Kenya Kwanza Coalition’s economic turnaround team that have been adopted as part of the manifesto to be launched.”
Elevating those at the bottom
The DP’s team insists that the August General Election is about the economy of the country and elevating those at the bottom of the income pyramid.
“The August 2022 election is about the economy, and only Kenya Kwanza has a plan on how to liberalise and revive the economy. That plan will be shared tomorrow, together with commitments to initiate necessary measures to meet the hopes and expectations of our people,” Mr Mohammed said.
United Democratic Alliance (UDA) chairman Johnson Muthama said they want to change the political landscape of the country and the manifesto is aimed at giving the coalition an advantage over their rivals.
“What we have decided to do this time round is to accurately identify the problems from each region. By the time we get to form the government, we know what each region needs. The government should not launch projects which have never been chosen by the people themselves,” said Mr Muthama.
Dr Ruto said recently that his agenda seeks to re-engineer the economy with everyone brought on board with the goal of lowering poverty.
“Through the ongoing consultations covering all regions and all sectors of the economy, we anticipate the generation of more jobs and expanded opportunities for those in the lower cadre,” said DP Ruto.
Dr Ruto, a wealthy man by any standard, has fashioned himself as a “hustler” to endear himself to low-income voters.
The DP had assembled hundreds of professionals from all fields to combine various proposals received from different counties to come up with his manifesto.
“A total of over 250 professionals and experts in various fields led by Dr David Ndii are assisting with the forum technical work, preparing county charters and [the] final manifesto will be a product of the county consultations. This team of experts represents the largest such team ever assembled in the history of Kenya,” said Dr Ruto’s presidential campaign director-general Josphat Nanok.
DP Ruto had put up a web-like campaign team to craft his manifesto and strategy to shore up his chances of succeeding his boss.
To tackle different aspects of vote hunting in his State House quest, the DP has formed nine campaign committees that supplement one another’s work. They include a presidential campaign steering council, economic advisory, politburo, legal, governance and human rights, diaspora, communication, UDA leadership structure and foreign relations.
The list of strategists and advisers includes individuals who have held powerful positions in previous regimes. Each team is mandated with different responsibilities with the core goal remaining selling DP Ruto’s power quest, although their members serve on more than one committee.
The economic advisory is chaired by Prof Ndii and will coordinate “bottom-up” economic models and design macro-level economic policies. It is also designing the structure of a Ruto government.
