Of chameleons that frighten Raila Odinga and William Ruto

SGR cargo train

A cargo train leaves for Nairobi via Mombasa's Southern Bypass on February 12, 2021.

Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group

If the art of telling people what you want them to hear was a person, perhaps United Democratic Alliance (UDA) presidential candidate William Ruto and his Azimio la Umoja challenger Raila Odinga would be the faces.

With changing promises depending on where they are and the circumstances, the two have become political chameleons as they seek to win over voters ahead of the August 9 election.

But as they do so, some of the pledges they are currently selling in different parts of the country are now exposing their underbelly in regard to what has been described as ‘political camouflage’.

The promises range from ‘one man, one vote, one shilling’ revenue sharing mantra, lowering the cost of unga while ensuring maize farmers still reap big, resettlement of squatters, mitumba (used clothes), and operations at the Naivasha inland port.

Before the rage on mitumba, precipitated by Mr Odinga’s gaffe at the Azimio manifesto launch, both DP Ruto and the former Prime Minister had proposals to eradicate the importation of second-hand clothes to promote the local textile industry.

“All that we are importing from seats, clothes and shoes, we will ban so that those clothes, shoes and all wood products to be manufactured within our country and youths in our nation under the programme of wealth creation, we eradicate poverty,” DP Ruto is heard saying in a video clip that went viral immediately after the launch of Azimio manifesto.

Hot potato

But after Mr Odinga’s gaffe that “Our people are only wearing clothes coming from outside the country already worn by people who are dead,” it was time to quickly drop the hot potato.

Both Mr Odinga and Mr Ruto made an about-turn on the matter after realising that it had the potential of costing them votes, as a substantial number of Kenyans are involved in this trade.

Second-hand clothing trade has uplifted so many people in Kenya, my government will not ban mitumba but strengthen it,” said Mr Odinga when he met the national representatives of the Mitumba Association of Kenya.

Kenya Kwanza, despite initially proposing to ban the importation of second-hand clothes, turned mitumba into a political weapon against Mr Odinga.

The most slippery policy position for Mr Odinga and Mr Ruto has been the Naivasha Dry Port and the standard gauge railway (SGR). When they visit the Coast, they promise to reverse legal and administrative changes over the use of the SGR—a pet project of the Uhuru Kenyatta administration—should either of them win on Tuesday. Dr Ruto keeps telling Coast residents that he would return major port operations “that were moved to Naivasha and Nairobi”, to end the economic deprivation facing locals.

“It was never the intention of the government to build the SGR so that the coastal people could be impoverished. The SGR was meant to make the port much more efficient and to improve the business and the fortunes of the coastal people,” he said.

At the same time, Mr Odinga has blamed Dr Ruto of trying to impoverish the coastal people as he is the one who commissioned the Naivasha inland port.

“Kenyans know what Ruto said in Naivasha when he launched the dry port and now, he has forgotten and claimed that Baba (Raila) has killed the Port of Mombasa,” said Azimio boss on Thursday in Mombasa.

“When he comes back here and talks about the port, ask him to tell you who launched the Naivasha Dry Port. Records are there and you can even watch videos of how he spoke during the launch.”

When the two visit Nakuru, the narrative changes to appease locals. “The SGR ended up in Naivasha to tap into geothermal power and to help us in the leather and textile industry. That is why I have prioritised it in my manifesto,” said DP Ruto in an interview.

Nakuru governor Lee Kinyanjui recently raised concerns that the threat to reverse the SGR deal is economic sabotage of his county and he will not allow leaders to derail the development agenda.

“Is Nakuru not part of Kenya? Instead of engaging in conversations on how to enlarge the national cake and reach everyone, we are entertaining retrogressive policies targeting certain regions for short-term political expediency,” he lamented.

The issue of revenue-sharing formula, which was to add Central counties billions of shillings, has been the point of clash between Dr Ruto and allies of President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga. The DP finds himself in a delicate situation to balance between the interests of Mt Kenya and the marginalised counties, especially after he opposed the Building Bridges Initiative that had proposed ‘one man, one vote, one shilling’ revenue sharing mantra.

Whenever he was campaigning in Mt Kenya region, he used ‘one man, one vote, one shilling’ to rally the region behind him. In marginalised counties, however, Dr Ruto warns locals against voting for Mr Odinga who wants to take their billions to other regions.

Mr Odinga’s presidential campaign board chair Ndiritu Muriithi yesterday told Sunday Nation that the DP continues to expose his double-speak on the kind of pledges he is giving different parts of the country. The Laikipia governor said the UDA presidential candidate has never had the interests of Mt Kenya at heart, hence his inconsistency.

“They (Kenya Kwanza) will say what they think is expedient for one part of Kenya and go say the exact opposite on the other side of the republic,” he said.

However, Mr Kang’ata, an ardent defender of Dr Ruto, yesterday told Sunday Nation that the DP has been for a formula where all counties will benefit.