It would appear that that the riot act has been read to both the ODM and Jubilee camps
Jubilee politicians in Kajiado County convened a rather curious press conference in Kajiado North, on Friday, and from the look of things, things are not exactly going their way.
Up until Friday, their supporters had been crowing how zoning would come into force in Kajiado and in the process, torpedo Governor Joseph ole Lenku’s chances at the ballot, come August.
The tune is now a bit different. Wearing long faces, the Jubilee politicians, who included Kajiado Central’s Memusi Kanchori, were now speaking of “whether zoning comes or not…”
What has changed?
In the absence of any other explanation, there is a very high possibility that they got some talking to from the higher ups in the Azimio One Kenya Alliance.
They must have been told to go easy on the zoning rhetoric, as it was causing panic and confusion within the Azimio outfit.
You only needed to read the body language and listen to them keenly to get the message they were trying to pass. Most telling, however, was Memusi’s brief remarks.
Without any prompting, the Kajiado Central MP talked about the perception of the Azimio outfit in Kajiado being a divided house. Well, the unvarnished truth is that the harsh rhetoric from both the Jubilee and ODM camps has effectively divided the Azimio house right down the middle.
So toxic is the atmosphere between the two camps that Moses Konana, ODM’s Kajiado West aspirant went to Moses ole Sakuda’s senate bid launch – a Jubilee event – with the clear intention of disrupting the gathering, obviously with the blessings of Governor Lenku.
The governor on the other hand, has been fanning ethnic fires, pitting Maasais and Kikuyus and other communities against Kikuyus, simply because David Nkedianye chose Joseph Manje, a Kikuyu, to be his running mate.
Ole Lenku has been telling Maasais that should Nkedianye be elected governor, leadership will have moved from the hands of Maasais and into the hands of ‘foreigners’.
This was a powder keg waiting to explode.
The only reason Azimio was advocating for zoning, was to forestall the possibility of two or more candidates from the coalition, going into the ballot and dividing up their votes, thereby giving UDA an advantage.
However, from the look of things, even without zoning, the votes have already been divided. Such is the effect of the poisonous rhetoric from the opposing camps within Azimio.
It would appear that that the riot act has been read to both camps.
The other day, while addressing women aspirants in ODM, at the governor’s residence, Ole Lenku talked about holding ‘peaceful campaigns’. That was a major climb down from the Lenku who spoke at Moses Birisha’s launch in Matapato.
Lenku’s supporters have a unique take when it comes to the zoning debate. They argue that zoning will affect turnout during the August elections, which might negatively affect Raila Odinga’s presidential votes.
According to them, both Lenku and Nkedianye should be on the ballot, as they will marshal their supporters to turn out in huge numbers, a thing that will benefit Odinga in his fight against William Ruto.
Whether this is true is neither here nor there
Back to the Jubilee press conference. Nkedianye and co said that their focus is on Katoo ole Metito of UDA and not Governor Lenku, which is as it should be, but then, they couldn’t resist taking digs at the governor’s perceived performance while in office.
The apparent intervention from Azimio can only be a good thing as it has reduced hostilities, albeit temporarily.
This now begs the question, how will the Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga led coalition broker an acceptable arrangement between the two camps to ensure that their troops approach the campaigns speaking in one voice.
However, do not be fooled by the current cessation of hostilities. This is merely a false down; When they hit the campaign trail, proper and with no big brother to watch over them; expect the swords to be unsheathed.
