GOVERNOR EVANS KIDERO’S DATE WITH POLITICAL GODS BEGETS DEJA VU
By Jackson Omondi
If past is prologue, Governor Kidero’s route to reelection has already been drawn. In 2013, the Jubilee political dustup between Investment magnate Jimnah Mbaru and the blue-collar , abrasive Ferdinand Waititu paved the way for a Kidero victory.
Fast forward to 2017, the political gods are yet again, lining up in favor of the maligned Governor of Nairobi. The Mount Kenya political chessmasters have made it clear that they want Peter Kenneth to succeed UK.
The boardroom deliberations have sent hitherto Jubilee gubernatorial wannabes into a state of shock. Political dreamers like Sakaja, Waweru, Wanjiru and Sonko have now been reduced to mere footnotes in an equation that puts the ultra-political opportunist Kenneth in the driver’s seat.
To the uninitiated like Sakaja and Sonko, the news was delivered in a rather raw fashion: your ethnicity betrays you!
The nonplussed Sakaja wasted no time in grabbing the nearest microphone to express his disappointment. As if the enterprise gives a rat’s tail!
Those who push the levers of power in Kenya dictate what goes where in the country’s political prism. To them, it’s time to look past UK and because Ruto doesn’t feature in their political matrix, the next best thing must be readied for prime time! What better way to put the legwork than to pick the safest bet in Peter Kenneth!
To paint a clearer picture, let’s look at their record. When Kibaki was facing retirement occasioned by constitutional restrictions, they picked UK despite the resistance from other seasoned politicos from the region. By design or by fate, UK’s would-be competitors sublimed and he got to Statehouse. Translation? What the enterprise wants, the enterprise gets.
This is something that the Sonkos of this world will have to contend with. Trained political observers will note that, over a year ago, Maina Kamanda debuted the onslaught on Sonko in the presence of UK, who conveniently had nothing to say. In the well choreographed political hitjob, speaker after speaker unloaded on Sonko with pointed yet loaded criticism. It was a doppelganger and a harbinger of things to come.
But with the elections just months away, the language is much more direct and the niceties are long gone. It’s about the tribe and the goal is much more potent: who can best represent and champion our agenda as the enterprise?
This is where Kidero goes for the kill. A beleaguered and dejected Sonko with his 800,000 votes will have to seek political shelter outside Jubilee. A man who has spent the last four years defending Jubilee is now being told that he is on his own and the seat that he thought was his for the taking has been assigned to the Manchurian candidate!
Sonko the retail politician will not take this lying down and the consequences will prove fatal for the Jubilee nominee for governor. Any blackmail or chokeholds administered by Jubilee will do nothing but bolster Kidero’ s chances.
For Kidero, the game plan must resemble the 2013 effort. Just sit back and let the Jubilee carnage yield dividends! Peter Kenneth’s political networth in Nairobi is just about up there next to UK’s in Bondo. The enterprise will succeed in getting their man as the Jubilee nominee in Nairobi but the upshot will be an easy victory for Kidero.
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