ODM chief Raila Odinga, Mt Kenya's bogeyman of yesteryear, is increasingly enhancing his fortunes and seen as a safe pair of hands in the all-important region.
He is threatening to significantly chip away at DP William Ruto's support.
The DP has for long banked on the vote-rich region to enhance his 2022 chances of winning State House, despite an aggressive campaign by his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, to block his march.
Politicians and analysts say the President’s elaborate strategy to lock out Ruto from Mt Kenya has started to bear fruits, as the DPs fortunes are now under immense threat, nine months to the general election.
Without the backing of over 80 per cent of slightly over six million Mt Kenya voters, Ruto’s presidential ambitions could go up in smoke. He would be unable to write history as the first second in command to succeed a sitting president.
Raila, the presumptive Orange Democratic Movement presidential candidate in 2022, has received overwhelming support from some Mt Kenya bigwigs and Uhuru’s key allies, including six governors.
Raila’s embrace by the Mt Kenya governors, including Nakuru’s Lee Kinyanjui, coupled with an aggressive grassroots campaign appears to be endearing him to the region and making a Raila presidency a possibility.
The Star has established President Kenyatta has instructed his confidants from Mt Kenya to step out and take Raila around the region to shore up his appeal as he grooms him to be his successor.
In the last one month, the President’s men from his Mt Kenya backyard have sustained campaigns to market Raila. Leading the charge are Governors James Nyoro (Kiambu), Nderitu Muriithi (Laikipia) and Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua).
Others are Kiraitu Murungi (Meru) and Tharaka Nithi's Muthomi Njuki.
“Those who said Raila will not climb the mountain are in for a rude shock, the Raila presidency is at the foot of yonder,” Muriithi said.
The independent governor who has emerged as a key player in President Uhuru’s 2022 succession politics told the Star Raila will ultimately flip the mountain in his favour.
“If you look at the efforts we have made in the last few weeks, compared to what others did in the last eight years to project themselves as Mt Kenya favourites, Raila is headed to State House,” Murithi told the Star.
The ODM boss has so far traversed the counties of Nakuru, Kiambu, Nyeri, Murang’a, Laikipia, Embu and Meru as he seeks to win hearts and minds.Uhuru's men are leading the offensive.
Raila’s reception in his tours of the President’s backyard is said to have stoked fears within Ruto’s camp the ODM boss would shrink the DP’s support must-win region.
In his tours, Raila has wowed crowds, a departure from the past when he was shunned.
On Wednesday, while delivering his speech during the Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kririnyaga, Raila alluded to his sacrifice in 2002 when he declared ‘Kibaki Tosha’, handing Mwai Kibaki a landslide presidential victory.
“I am a friend of the mountain and I have been able to climb the mountain,” Raila declared after a successful tour of the region before attending the Mashujaa Day fete.
Climbing the mountain is a phrase crafted by the President’s men and those backing Raila to show the ODM boss’ acceptability.
It has emerged that it has taken a concerted effort by the President’s inner circle to change the anti-Raila narrative that for decades stirred a vicious wa to block the ODM boss’ ascension to power.
The move by the President’s strategists to involve governors in the Raila campaigns appears to be subduing the historical narrative that for decades painted Raila as a dangerous politician who would wreck Mt Kenya's interests.
In the last one month, the governors have stepped out to market Raila across the region, bolstering his chances of succeeding Kenyatta.
The Star has established that it took President Uhuru’s intervention to bring the main rivals in Meru county together, including Agriculture CS Peter Munya and Governor Kiraitu Murungi.
The two Meru linchpins have been sworn enemies because of their gubernatorial rivalry, but they buried the hatched on Tuesday and shook hands to support Raila.
On Thursday, East African Legislative Assembly member Mbuuri Apuri told the Star it was a done deal for Raila in Meru.
“We have come together and swallowed our pride because we believe Raila is going to be the next President, the regional assembly lawmaker insisted.
He went on, “The mountain is fast-shifting and in Raila’s favour and it is important that we board that vehicle together.”
Raila’s former critics from Uhuru’s bastion have come out claiming that there is nothing the ODM boss had previously done to offend the region and their tantrums were jut for political show.
“We are moving across the region to remind our people that Raila is not bad, we called him names because we wanted to win elections. The people are agreeing to our pleas and the ground is quite receptive,” Kieni MP Kanini Kega said.
The key Raila ally from Mt Kenya said it was almost a given that the region will now vote for Raila as a bloc despite Ruto’s aggressive efforts to save his fortunes.
Former Mukurweini MP Kabando wa Kabando, a politician who has previously laughed off Raila’s efforts to woo Mt Kenya, is now asserting the possibility of a Raila presidency.
The MP had initially claimed Ruto was ahead of the pack in the battle for Mt Kenya votes, declaring that it was almost a given that the President’s backyard would vote for the DP.
Revealing the growing confidence of the President’s men about a Raila presidency, Kabando even said he has consulted at least three presidential candidates and concluded Raila would be the best man.
"Recently I was privileged to meet and consult Deputy President William Ruto, Mukhisa Kituyi and Raila Odinga. My conclusion is that even with Ruto’s energetic campaigns, a Raila presidency is increasingly becoming a possibility,” Kabando said.
Political analyst Dismus Mokua told the Star it would be difficult for Ruto to take on a combination of Uhuru and Raila.
“The ground is getting slippery for Ruto as Raila is aided to climb the mountain,” he said.
The ex-lawmaker, however, insisted that the next elections would be won on the platform of who can win the war on corruption.
The President’s allies say the DP lacks the anti-graft credentials to launch any meaningful efforts to tackle corruption, projecting Raila as the man who will protect public funds.
Raila’s confidants have portrayed Ruto as the chief beneficiary of corruption, claiming that during President Uhuru’s first term, he tapped his allies in top government jobs to aid theft of public funds.
However, the DP has come out guns blazing, terming both Uhuru and Raila as political cons who have turned against him, not because he is corrupt, but to block his efforts to be the next tenant of State House.
“When I supported Raila, they called me a good person, when I supported Uhuru, they also said I was a good man, but now when I want to support hustlers, they have branded me corrupt.
"Aren't these people frauds?" Ruto asked in Kwale on Monday.
However, in an apparent strategy to please Uhuru who is vigorously trying to sabotage his State House bid, Ruto showered the President with praise.
Speaking at Wang'uru Stadium in Kirinyaga county on Wednesday, Ruto said the country has seen what he termed "unprecedented transformation" in the last nine years under Uhuru's leadership.
“You have been a transformational leader in Kenya. You have set the standards for the leaders who will come after you,” the Deputy President said.
Ruto recently said Uhuru has wasted four years of his second term because of his handshake with ODM leader Raila Odinga. He has argued that the government lost its way when it brought onboard opposition leaders.
(Edited by V. Graham)