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Kenya: Inside Kenyatta, Odinga’s Coalition Power Plan

Published

4 years ago

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President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga will draw inspiration from the victorious Rainbow Coalition of 2002 to neutralise Deputy President William Ruto’s onslaught in the succession race.

Their strategists are considering three options in nominations to ensure their coalition wins majority seats including one used by Narc partners 19 years ago to overcome the formidable challenge posed by the fast-rising United Democratic Alliance and other alliances ahead of the 2022 General Election.

They are considering fielding a joint presidential candidate as well as common or negotiated parliamentary and civic aspirants in a bid to win majority seats in the National Assembly, the Senate and counties.

A Jubilee-ODM technical committee is looking at three possible campaign scenarios that could deliver the House as they seek to pass favourable laws that would ensure the smooth running of a coalition government.

They will either zone the country according to party strengths, conduct a popularity survey in selected regions, or employ the Narc model of conducting joint nominations.

They are also negotiating with the Party of National Unity linked to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, the Upya Movement for Northern Kenya outfit led by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani and Ubuntu People’s Forum of Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui.

In 2002, Mr Odinga was widely viewed as the strongman in the coalition that ended Kanu’s grip on power when he led the opposition campaigns following Mr Mwai Kibaki’s injuries in a road accident.

Sources say the coalition colour will be royal blue, which the ODM leader has been associated with in his ‘Azimio la Umoja’ national tours. He has vowed to revive the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) if elected, which seeks to expand the Executive to include a Prime Minister and two deputies.

This probably explains the determination to have majority seats as MPs will be crucial in the appointment of the PM.

The Jubilee-ODM pre-election agreement seeks to strengthen the partners to avert infighting as witnessed in the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) in 2013 and the National Super Alliance (Nasa) in 2017.

Cord had ODM, Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper Democratic Movement and Moses Wetang’ula’s Ford Kenya. Nasa was Cord plus the African National Congress led by Mr Musalia Mudavadi.

Narc had President Kibaki’s Democratic Party (DP), Kijana Wamalwa’s Ford-Kenya, Charity Ngilu’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Mr Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).