As a passionate president Uhuru Kenyatta spoke to GEMA leaders at Sagana state lodge in
November, 2019, one could not fail to feel his genuine desire to leave a lasting legacy on
revenue sharing and equity, especially for the people in the mountain. He repeated his plea in a
series of meetings in the same venue early February.
In Sagana, he pleaded, “I could even go out there and get knocked down by a bus, but what will I
leave behind for you, and our nation.”
What has changed and why is the president’s project limping among the masses in the region?
A multiplicity of factors is at play in the most populous region in the country. For starters,
central region counties contribute close to 40 per cent of the nation’s GDP according to statistics
from the state agency, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Their county revenue allocation from
the exchequer, on the other hand, remains comparatively low as compared to the bottom of the
table GDP contributors; this by an average ration of two to one. According to the president, his
constitutional intervention, and what he has variously referred to as the ‘constitutional moment’,
is aimed at correcting this misnomer while guaranteeing least developed regions continued
national support.
One year later, the president’s project – the Building Bridges Initiative – seems to be facing very
strong headwinds, coincidentally driven from his own home region which is poised to benefit
most.
At the back of these dwindling political fortunes is a general feeling and propaganda-driven
perception of neglect by the Kenyatta presidency on the Mount Kenya region. For example,
opponents of the BBI have cited massive national government projects in other regions which
never as much supported the president – vote wise – as compared to the central region. The cat
had been let out in an address made by the president’s Member of Parliament, Moses Kuria, in
December 2018. The sentiments, especially coming from once Kenyatta’s ardent supporter and
soldier, seem to have struck with a sizeable constituency in the region.
This perception – albeit false – has not been helped by declining returns from the region’s major
cash crops like coffee, tea, rice and miraa, and of course the dairy industry. In the dairy sector,
for example, where milk prices plummeted to historical lows of less than Ksh. 20 per kilo, the
finger was quickly pointed at the president’s family which is the largest investor in the sector;
never mind the evidence presented, or lack of, his opponents had found a perfect bogeyman.
The political schisms between the president and his deputy too have not helped matters either.
Riding on the failing economy from dwindling agriculture returns, a purge on counterfeits which
again hit businesspeople from the mountain most, and a populist (hate) campaign which roped in
some Kikuyu musicians, the president’s deputy used vocal regional politicians to discredit not
just the BBI, but the president too. For Uhuru Kenyatta, his once stable backyard was now
poisoned – using his language, and by those once closest to him; people started believing, and
drifting away.
But it is the public’s discontent with local leaders spearheading the exercise which seem to have
shafted the president’s project more than anything else. Deserted by his former chief
propagandists and campaigners, Kenyatta’s backers are a collection of old-timers, unpopular and
unconvincing politicians. Some of the governors, for example, who were initially charged with
the exercise, found a platform to resurrect their dwindling political fortunes.
Interestingly, too, political competition and greed for power by some regional leaders threatened
to torpedo the boat and a collective BBI strategy. “There arose an internal contest pitting a few
governors over the control of the process in the region. You saw the push and pull even for
sitting arrangements in Meru, to an extent the host governor was almost shadowed in the
supremacy contest,” a governor conversant with the intrigues noted, “this has resulted in some
governors retreating hoping for direction from the president. We also expected him to rescue this
noble project from some very unpopular characters.”
The president has since reconstituted the teams.
Also feeling left out were members of parliament and possible contestants for various posts. For
example, in the three Mount Kenya east counties of Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi, the BBI
signature collection exercise was snubbed by all legislators except for two, Imenti North Rahim
Dawood and Igembe North Maoka Maore. Leaders in the meeting castigated the absent
legislators with Meru governor calling those opposed to the process “unwise”.
The same happened in Nyandarua county where several factions pitting the governor and the
water cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki led different exercises. Kimemia accused, for the
umpteenth time, the water minister of “going round the county pretending to be inspecting
government projects when we know she is campaigning to be governor.” On her part, Kariuki
asked the governor to concentrate on his mandate and allow her to deliver on the president’s
promises: “and Nyandarua is my home where I can come every time I want.” Fights between the
governor and the speaker, too, threaten to derail the BBI train in the county with many leaders
engaged in unhelpful political schisms.
In Murang’a county, governor Mwangi wa Iria is also embroiled in a supremacy battle with the
principal secretary in the ministry of water, JosephWairagu. While the governor is serving his
second and final term, and not eligible for re-election, Wairagu’s entry seems to have upset his
succession arithmetic, and denying the county a common front on this immediate project. Similar
fight is taking place in Kirinyaga where the only female governor in the region, Ann Waiguru, is
battling it out with area Senator Charles Kibiru. In all these instances, BBI packaging and the
president’s message, whatever noble intentions, has suffered.
But the president, too, is not without blame. At the national level, the Covid-19 pandemic has
exposed a government whose priority list is insensitive and out of touch with the common man –
the voter. While millions of citizens were struggling with the most of basic necessities, the
president’s men, including his handshake partner Raila Odinga, kept drumming up the BBI
gospel to an already nauseated populace struggling for survival, and then under lockdown.
A deeply wounded nation reeling from a debilitating global pandemic, and with millions without
two coins to rub together, was not ready for what was to befall them again: the Covid-19 Kenya
Medical Supplies Agency heist where billions were allegedly lost. It did not help that some of
the president’s men were mentioned as the architects and beneficiaries. And for the head of state,
his promise and direction for full action within 21 days, which long lapsed without any tangible
results, further undermined his word and attraction to the suffering citizenry.
With the opposition, led by his own principal assistant, amplifying this graft allegation and
juxtaposing it as a direct affront on the dying Kenyans, and especially frontline healthcare
workers striking for lack of protective gear, it would never have been a worse period for the BBI,
its proponents, and the president. For a government perceived to have weaponized the war
against corruption against its opponents, the shoe was now on the other foot. Once again, the
people believed.
Hence, today, for the president, his task has never been more defined: go to your people directly,
for some of the leaders you sent have largely lost the goodwill of the electorate, and the message
will be rejected together with the messengers. Even better, Kenyans, and especially those from
your backyard who have been hurt most, want to see a ruthless purge against corruption – a fight
blind to loyalty or affiliation.
Over to you, Sir.
