President Uhuru Kenyatta has firmly imposed his will on the management of the governing Jubilee Party by ensuring that its parliamentary leadership is made up of his allies and cronies. In the process, he has kicked out allies of hamstrung Deputy President William Ruto from the leadership of the twin Houses of Parliament.
And by Executive Order on Thursday, the President, whichever way you look at it, put some considerable distance between his office, and therefore his person, and that of his DP and, therefore, the person of the DP, in his determination to put his Number Two in his place or keep him at arm’s length.
President Kenyatta has, therefore, readied the Houses of Parliament for the next phase of his reorganisation of the political landscape and architecture to serve his legacy-bound agenda.
And by tinkering with the structure of government, he also signalled his ambition to sharpen delivery of services in the twilight of his administration.
I am reminded of the words of Senior Counsel and Ugenya Senator James Orengo as he drove the last nail in Prof Kithure Kindinki’s coffin of Senate leadership last month. Mr Orengo, in many ways the legal mind of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Party Leader Raila Odinga, was speaking as an insider.
In the coming two or three months, he said, the role of Parliament is going to be critical in regard to upcoming constitutional and reform changes. Parliament, Mr Orengo continued, must be ready to support those who have made it their commitment to change Kenya and steer it towards unity and prosperity.
Mr Orengo compared the DP to Rasputin, the mad monk or charlatan who had a strange hold on the Tsar and Tsarina, who misled the Russian ruler. And he asked the governing Jubilee Party to decide between having the Tsar (President Kenyatta) at the helm or Rasputin, but not both. In other words, ODM is ready, why is Jubilee dragging its feet?
The President has acted. The office of the DP, thanks to that Executive Order, now does not have its own budget and must, tucked as it is under the Executive Office of the President, not be a part of the Presidency anymore.
The office of the DP now can no longer hire personnel and, now having no assigned duties, must expect to be assigned by the President.
The public diminution of Dr Ruto continues apace bar the arguments among legal friends as to the constitutionality or otherwise of the Executive Order. Dr Ruto, unlike previously, commands no clout in the House. Unlike just a month ago, his office is now a shell and he has been pushed to the periphery.
If the President is going to bring back the position of Cabinet Secretary, which disappeared when MPs driven by individual and hidden agendas refused to endorse his nominee Dr Monica Juma in 2016, the President will put more distance between himself and Dr Ruto and further diminish him.
So what is next for the President? It is important to observe that he has, in his first veiled assault on the DP, who was reckless enough to take on his boss, struck through Parliament. In his first frontal assault on Dr Ruto, President Kenyatta used the power of his office. He is yet to consolidate his position in Jubilee.
Will he? It is not clear yet if an internal poll is on President Kenyatta’s mind. It would appear coalitions, or building a big tent, are. Coalitions or not, the time has come for Kenya’s parties to hold internal elections. And time has come for memberships, rank and file, as well as the Kenyan taxpayer, to demand that internal democracy be exercised in Jubilee and ODM.
Why do I bring in you the taxpayer, or the ordinary non-member mwananchi? Because it is you, the taxpayer, who funds Kenya’s two majority parliamentary parties via the Political Parties Fund, which is administered by the office of the Registrar of Political Parties.
In 2017/2018, you gave Jubilee Sh240,375,303.52 and in 2018/2019 Sh240,347,733.80. How much did you give ODM in the same years? A total of Sh224,511,722.65. Would you not have noticed a difference if the money had been used to equip the health facility nearest to you with drugs?
Why fund a political party and not care about what it does with your money?
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