With less than 40 days to the August 8/8/17 General election, facing an invigorated opposition riding on the failures of the Jubilee administration, the Jubilee campaigns has run into serious headwinds that threaten to knock them off their feet.
Sources within the Jubilee administration states that there is an ongoing debate within the Jubilee inner circle about “How could have things been had Uhuru gone with Gideon Moi as his choice for running mate?”
There is a general acceptance that William Ruto has done more harm to Uhuru’s re-election than good.
It is reported that Mama Ngina is not very happy with the direction of the Jubilee campaigns and is concerned that public perception of the Jubilee administration, largely due to pronouncements of the DP is posing real threat to Uhuru’s re-election.
Those who actively pushed Uhuru to pick Gideon Moi as his running mate feel that they have been vindicated. They had argued that Ruto is too confrontational and arrogant. Though a good campaigner, he is poor at building bridges, something they considered critical in the 2017 elections given that ICC was no longer a campaign issue.
Had their suggestions be successful, Uhuru would have picked Gideon Moi to be his running mate as Mama Ngina had discussed with Mzee Moi in their January 21, 2017 meeting which was followed with another meeting between President Uhuru and Mzee Moi on February 2017.
With NASA making inroads into Rift Valley, something the NIS attributes to the bad blood between William Ruto and other Kalenjine leaders, there is greater worry within Jubilee that the opposition wave will sweep to deny President Uhuru a second term.
Jubilee insiders are however divided as to whether the harm was intentional or unintended results of Rutos politics. There are those who believe that William Ruto understood that Uhuru winning a second chance, it would make his 2022 ambitions difficult given that he will have to carry the burdens of the Jubilee administration and therefore Jubilee losing in 2017 is a blessing for him.
There are also those who believe that by the numerous scandals, Ruto has exposed the President to ridicule. They also argue that William Ruto’s continued stretching of the truth has injured Jubilee’s credibility as they portray the President as a liar not in touch with reality. This group is particularly upset with the manner in which Ruto handled the Unga shortage and his answers at the Jubilee manifesto launch in which he overshadowed the president by not being truthful with Kenyans.
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