Will President Uhuru Kenyatta slide into a quiet retirement in Ichaweri village, Kiambu, after the August 9 General Election or will he continue to call the shots either behind the scenes or in a different official capacity?
Deputy President William Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza coalition partner, Musalia Mudavadi, appear to be privy to some alleged secret plans to keep the president in power, and they have been shouting about it from the hilltops.
“We don’t want people who, upon realising that their term is gone, want to continue to sit on our heads through puppets,” Mr Mudavadi said yesterday at a public forum during their ongoing overseas trip.
He was referring to Mr Kenyatta’s now publicly articulated preference for ODM leader Raila Odinga as his successor, and the Kenya Kwanza political narrative that the current president will be the real power behind the throne in the event of an Azimio coalition election win.
At 61 years of age, some political insiders, including Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) Secretary-General Francis Atwoli, feel that President Kenyatta is too young to retire, and have openly revealed plans to keep him in power post the August polls.
“On Labour Day 2017, a lot of people got surprised when I said that if we wanted peace in our country we needed to review our Constitution to create a role for President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is still very young... I said that if you let him go without any substantive role in government he would cause problems... Today I want to thank Jubilee party delegates for retaining him as their party leader.”
Those were Mr Atwoli’s opening remarks at the ODM National Delegates Conference held at the Kasarani Stadium on Saturday, February 26.
President Kenyatta animatedly applauded the Cotu leader’s comments by showing him the Namaste greeting, lending some form of credence to the statement.
Mr Atwoli then reminded the delegates that the push for constitutional review is still alive through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which critics have termed as a plan to keep President Kenyatta in power and also share out political slots to supporters of the nascent Azimio coalition.
Which begs the question, why is President Kenyatta working so hard to put together a formidable presidential candidate for the August 9 General Election, and why is Deputy President William Ruto’s camp so jittery about these plans?
Unlike former presidents Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki who retired at advanced ages, 78 and 82 respectively, Mr Kenyatta is exiting at what many consider as the prime of his political career.
Observers note that the kind of mobilisation happening in the ruling Jubilee party, with him remaining as its leader beyond retirement, means that Mr Kenyatta will wield political influence for a while.
The Jubilee party delegates gave him five more years at the helm, which gives him the authority to summon a PG (parliamentary group) meeting and push a particular agenda in the bicameral Parliament if need be.
Strategically, a number of political parties have been made to join the Azimio alliance through Jubilee, handing the ruling party more bargaining chips in the power-sharing negotiations with Mr Odinga’s ODM and in Parliament and county assemblies.
Some of the parties that have opted to negotiate with ODM through Jubilee in the Azimio outfit include Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) led by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, PNU led by Agriculture CS Peter Munya and Upya associated with Treasury CS Ukur Yatani.
The parties have authorised Mr Kenyatta to be their spokesman in the Azimio alliance power-sharing negotiations.
Even Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, though yet to sign a pact with Azimio, asked the president at the Jubilee National Delegates Conference held on February 26 to take charge of the push to bring the parties together.
“When we decided to join Azimio on Friday, it was because we believe in President Kenyatta’s vision to unite the country, and now we want to ask him to speed up the process of negotiating and coming up with the best candidate for the presidency. We cannot afford to lose this election,” Mr Musyoka said last week.
In the end, Mr Kenyatta is expected to become the glue holding Azimio together, given the mistrusts between Mr Odinga and the Wiper party boss. The role hands him immense powers in what should ideally be his retirement years.
DP Ruto’s political allies see the push to change the Constitution and re-introduce prime minister’s position as confirmation that Mr Kenyatta could return to power, but this time as the premier. The assertion at one time forced the president to come out and deny existence of such plans.
The Supreme Court is expected to make a final determination any time on the legality of the BBI constitutional review plan.
Jubilee Deputy Secretary-General Joshua Kutuny says Kenyans should expect in Mr Kenyatta a retired president but an active party leader, perhaps the clearest pointer that the man may be going nowhere after all.
“As a party, we must occupy a vintage position in the next government. There’s a difference between retiring from office and retiring from active politics. It is true the president wants to go home but we will still look up to him for direction.
“He will play advisory role to the president. Don’t forget they have a very strong bond with who we believe is the next president, Raila Odinga. There will be very close consultations between them on matters of concern and direction of the government,” the Cherangany lawmaker said.
“Remember Uhuru is rooting for kazi iendelee (continue with the work), meaning he’s keen to protect his legacy, have someone who will continue with the programmes. So you’ll see a retired president but a very active party leader,” he added.
DP Ruto and his Kenya Kwanza troops have charged that the scion of the first president Jomo Kenyatta is keen to install a weak president so he can remain in charge, even after quitting officially.
“While we are busy planning how the lowest Kenyan will be uplifted, some other operatives are busy in hotels planning how to install a puppet president who they will control as they want so that their selfish interests continue being served. We are not fools to accept such schemes,” DP Ruto said last month.
Another reality being pointed at is the general consensus that Mr Kenyatta remains the Central Kenya kingpin, even after vacating the State House.
Although he’s facing a sustained revolt from his backyard from young politicians who feel he has overstayed his welcome, no particular individual has emerged to challenge the president in his home turf.
But on the flip side, all these plans will be in jeopardy with a DP Ruto presidency, since the Head of State has come out openly to oppose his bid. By common practice and as a matter of courtesy, civilians of a country are appointed to global assignments with the concurrence of governments in countries of their origin.
For example, it took the blessing of President Kenyatta for Mr Odinga to be appointed as the African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development by AU chairman Mousa Faki. This was after the rapprochement the two had in March 2018, what is commonly referred to as the handshake.
The DP’s ally, Mr Mudavadi, has been painting Mr Odinga as a state project meant to keep Mr Kenyatta in leadership beyond August.
“The patron of Azimio la Umoja is Uhuru Kenyatta and now he has settled on Tinga (Mr Odinga) to be his puppet so that he can continue to rule through remote control because he has sensed that Kenyans have rejected his project of Azimio,” said Mr Mudavadi at a recent rally.
“We will remain firm and we also want Kenyans to stand their ground so that we are united. Kenyans, according to the Constitution, will not be denied their chance to elect leaders whom they love,” he added.
Speaking at the Karson Institute for Race, Peace and Social Justice at Loyola University in Maryland, the DP said different government agencies are trying to manipulate people’s decisions and make decisions on their behalf.
“As a leader, I have taken the position to speak against any attempts to try and straitjacket people into predetermined outcomes. We would have expected to do this without the baggage of blackmail and intimidation that is going on but unfortunately that is where we are,” said Dr Ruto.
