Inside Kanu's plan to wrest Rift Valley from William Ruto

Keen to bounce back and propel its leader Gideon Moi to the presidency, the independence party Kanu has crafted a new strategy that is already being deployed in the vote-rich Rift Valley.

The party has formed a team of 18 coordinators at the constituency level who will be tasked to work with grassroots officials to popularise its manifesto.

The party is also keen to recruit popular candidates to vie for various positions in next year’s elections in its quest to wrest the political control of the Rift Valley from Deputy President William Ruto and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

Party officials further said plans were underway to recruit and field strong candidates across the country in order to revive the outfit’s once-powerful national network and win more seats.  

“We have embarked on an aggressive marketing plan to strengthen our party at the grassroots level by reaching out to all communities across the country,” said the party’s North Rift coordinator, Mr Paul Kibet.

Besides revival of its grassroots network, the party’s strategists have been challenged to come up with a concrete policy paper on revival of agriculture, especially in the Rift Valley. 

“As a party with firm structures across the country, we are keen to reclaim our political supremacy in the Rift Valley region and other parts of the country ahead of the 2022 General Election. Apart from the ongoing grassroots recruitment, we are training election monitors to prepare them to scrutinise ballots and the voting process,” added Mr Kibet.

He disclosed that they have formed a team comprising opinion shapers, professionals, elders, women and youth who will market their party manifesto and identify eligible people to vie on the party’s ticket.

Rift Valley political kingpin

“Our objective is to field popular candidates to contest various positions. That will guarantee us more seats and bargaining power in case we want to form a coalition,” said Mr Kibet.

The party’s top brass has over the past two years held a series of discussions with farmers in the region on how to make agriculture more profitable.

Party leader and Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has also held meetings with a section of Kalenjin elders in what appears to be efforts to rally them to his corner as he leads the charge to reclaim the region from Dr Ruto and UDA.

From the 1950s and throughout his 24-year rule, Daniel arap Moi was the de facto political kingpin of the region. 

The younger Moi is a member of the One Kenya Alliance (OKA), which brings together four opposition parties – Amani National Congress (ANC) of Musalia Mudavadi, Ford-Kenya (Moses Wetang’ula), Wiper Party (Kalonzo Musyoka) and Kanu.

But even as the independence party struggles to make inroads in the Rift Valley, Dr Ruto’s UDA has already deployed its troops to consolidate its vice-like grip on the region. 

Dr Ruto has been the Rift Valley political kingpin since 2005, when he rallied the region to the No side during that year’s referendum on a new constitution. The Orange symbol of the NO side later morphed into the Orange party, of which Ruto was a member. Ruto was also one of the five members of Raila Odinga’s Pentagon in the lead-up to the 2007 General Election. 

After rallying the Rift region to Raila’s camp in 2007, Dr Ruto teamed up with Uhuru Kenyatta in the lead-up to the 2013 General Election. They have since been on a joint ticket that saw them win the 2013 and 2017 elections, though their ties seem to have broken in their second term in office.

Contest the presidency

Riding on the UDA party, Dr Ruto has vowed he will stop at nothing in his State House bid. 

With the Rift region fielding two aspirants for the presidency, a fresh political battle has emerged among the Kalenjin elders on who between Dr Ruto and Senator Moi should be the community’s flagbearer.

There have been unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the two leaders and have the community field only one presidential candidate next year.

Whereas some in the Myoot council of elders insist DP Ruto’s State House race should be supported by all, another group wants the Kalenjin community to be allowed to exercise their democratic rights by voting for whomever they prefer.

“Our objective is to unify the Kalenjin community ahead of the 2022 General Election. Everyone knows that if the community fields two candidates, they will not succeed," said Mr John Yego, the Myoot council of elders’ Uasin Gishu coordinator.

While DP Ruto has declared his intention to succeed President Kenyatta, the younger Moi, who is member of OKA, has not publicly expressed interest to contest the presidency in 2022.

“Our desire as elders from Rift Valley is to see all the leaders from the region in the same boat, taking the DP to State House come 2022,” Mr Yego added.

Some elders, however, want all the candidates who have declared interest in the presidency in 2022 to visit the region and sell their manifestos to the electorate.

Scuttle Ruto's presidential bid

“Everybody is free to contest the presidency and it is up to the voters to decide who is best suited for the job,” said Mr Chepkieng Chesoi from Elgeyo-Marakwet County.

Another Kalenjin elder, Mr David Chepsiror, accused his colleagues of engaging in political sycophancy instead of giving direction and championing the interests of the community.

Mr Chepsiror argued that Kanu’s decision to work with Jubilee Party gave Senator Moi an opportunity to fix things that he claimed Dr Ruto had failed to accomplish in his position.

"Kalenjin elders have failed the region. The community trusted us to bring about change. Some are misleading the community. There is nothing like Gideon should step aside for Ruto come 2022. Let the people decide, not elders," said Mr Chepsiror.

But some MPs from the Rift Valley early this year hit out at leaders from the Kalenjin community whom they said were being used to scuttle DP’s 2022 presidential bid.

“Let’s not be brokers as leaders. We should speak in one voice. The DP is the de facto Rift Valley leader. There’s no contest in Rift Valley. We are very settled here. Contests only exist in newspaper pages,” said Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot in a past interview.

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei a while back indicated that ward reps and opinion shapers would be enlisted to popularise Dr Ruto’s presidential bid.

“We have drawn an inclusive plan to consolidate support for the DP and those opposed to his candidature are spoilers,” said Mr Cherargei.