Inside the Uhuru-Raila campaign behemoth

Raila Odinga’s Azimio la Umoja movement has adopted a campaign strategy where different groups sell the coalition’s agenda in all parts of the country simultaneously.

After successfully bringing on board political bigwigs from various political parties, Mr Odinga, who is making his fifth stab at the presidency, is banking on ground operations led by his allies to beat Deputy President William Ruto and other challengers in the August 9 General Election.

Unlike Dr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), which has been holding one major rally at a time, the Azimio movement is seeking to solidify support in several constituencies at the same time.

Top Azimio la Umoja leaders, who include Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and his three Ukambani counterparts Alfred Mutua (Machakos), Charity Ngilu (Kitui) and Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) have already begun grassroots mobilisation to ensure Mr Odinga garners as many votes as possible in the next polls.

Mr Odinga’s campaign juggernaut has the Azimio mashinani brigade as well as Azimio women movement. Azimio la Vijana movement will reportedly be launched soon.

Last week, Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, who chairs the Azimio national campaign team, was drumming up support for Mr Odinga’s State House bid in the Mt Kenya region.

At the same time, Prof Kibwana, Dr Mutua and Ms Ngilu were rallying Ukambani voters behind Mr Odinga.

The ODM leader’s presidential bid has received a much-needed boost from Jubilee Party, which has reloaded and dispatched its ‘Red army’ to various parts of Mt Kenya, where they have been tasked to explain to the residents why President Kenyatta endorsed his erstwhile arch-rival as his preferred successor.

Kieni MP Kanini Kega, who is also Jubilee Party’s director of elections, yesterday told the Nation that they had gone back to the grassroots, where they were holding town-hall meetings.

“We are telling our people that Jubilee has been working and that it is now back. We want to partner with a presidential candidate who will continue with the Jubilee agenda and that is Raila Odinga, who has resolved to hold hands with the President,” said Mr Kega.

“We are doing well-structured town-hall meetings and not public rallies. In these kinds of meetings, you are able to explain to people the agenda you have for them,” he added.

Yesterday, Governor Oparanya told the Nation that they were reaching out to different parts of the country simultaneously. Mr Oparanya further disclosed that he had been tasked to counter Kenya Kwanza forays in the Western region.

He said they had mapped the country into six regions - Nyanza, Western, Coast, Eastern, Mount Kenya and Rift Valley – and had formed groups to cover all the regions.

“We had left Nairobi to Baba (Mr Odinga) because he has been an MP there for a long time and therefore understands the dynamics there,” said Mr Oparanya.

He went ahead: “We are waiting for this coalition to be finalised so that other players come on board. We have a system where we go to different regions and only meet the presidential candidate when he comes to your region. All of us 30 governors cannot be in his rallies.”

Mr Odinga’s presidential campaign press secretary Dennis Onsarigo yesterday said the Azimio camp had one message for the whole country.

“We do not need to divide the country into zones. Unlike our competitors, we in Azimio have the same message and agenda for the entire country, so we don't need to compartmentalise the country to deliver.

“However, since the coalition flag bearer can't be everywhere at the same time, other Azimio leaders will be everywhere in the country passing this message to the grassroots, which does not amount to zoning,” said Mr Onsarigo.

The Azimio strategy is tailored to ensure campaigns go on even when Mr Odinga is away, as happened last month when the former Prime Minister was in India and Mombasa governor and deputy ODM party leader Hassan Joho took charge of campaigns.

This is in stark contrast to the Kenya Kwanza strategy, where campaigns seem to have stalled after Dr Ruto led a delegation of on a 10-day tour of the US and Britain.

Political analyst and governance expert Javas Bigambo argues that the Azimio strategy helps Mr Odinga sell his policies to the whole country both directly and indirectly.

“They tend to dominate the news because most of the rallies get to be covered. Additionally, Mr Odinga’s troops get time to effectively prepare the ground for his tours. Given that Raila is not as energetic as he used to be, this strategy enables his message to reach various quarters even when he is personally not there. Ruto needs to counter it,” Mr Bigambo explained.

Prof Macharia Munene of the United States International University says the strategy casts Mr Odinga as a political team player.

“It is a good strategy that portrays his 'soldiers' as busy in different parts of the country. It also implies Raila has enough resources to organise events almost everywhere at the same time. This enhances the visibility of his agenda and name recognition. It also gives the impression that he is a team player and not a lone ranger,” Prof Munene argued.

ODM secretary-general Edwin Sifuna told the Nation that the strategy was working well for the Azimio team.

“It is very effective since we are able to have the Azimio message delivered in multiple places at the same time,” said Mr Sifuna.

 “Baba (Mr Odinga) has built a very strong team, unlike our competitors who cannot even hold a meeting without their presidential candidate,” he said.

Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana said that all the county bosses from Ukambani had agreed to do groundwork for Mr Odinga.

“We are doing our work to ensure that our people are in Azimio,” Prof Kibwana, who is also the Muungano Party of Kenya leader, told the Nation.

Prof Kibwana said Azimio however needed to go deeper into the villages, a strategy he said Dr Ruto had perfected.

“He (Ruto) goes to areas where other presidential candidates do not go. Not just the main towns, he goes to almost all the locations. He goes to targeted places where old people are likely to say, ‘We saw him here. We have not seen anyone else here’ and make a choice based on simple logic. Azimio must match that,” Prof Kibwana explained.

Dr Ruto has been touring various parts of the country, accompanied by  Garissa Township MP Aden Duale, Alice Wahome (Kandara), Rigathi Gachagua (Mathira), Aisha Jumwa (Malindi), Susan Kihika (Nakuru) and Kipchumba Murkomen (Elgeyo-Marakwet), among others.

But Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata yesterday said it is not true that UDA lieutenants cannot campaign when Dr Ruto is away.

“That is not true. It is only that the media does not cover us. I have been holding huge rallies in Central Kenya without coverage,” he said.

University of Nairobi lecturer XN Iraki termed the Azimio strategy more effective, arguing that it ensures Mr Odinga’s camp does not bank on one major rally on a given day.

He, however, cautions that the strategy may boomerang if the various groups do not pass the same message.

“It is an efficient strategy; you reach a bigger audience at the same time. The risk is if they do not speak the same language. The audience may interpret that as ‘disagreement’. Ruto’s strategy demonstrates solidarity but they have to hold more meetings,” said Prof Iraki.

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