That the president and his deputy are determined
to win a second term in office come 2017 is no secret. In trying to achieve
this without going the 2013 route where the Supreme Court was brought into the
picture to declare them winners, the duo has embarked on different strategies
including launching mega projects across the country to lure voters. The other
strategy that has also been immensely utilized is that of DP Ruto engaging
elected leaders, more so from the opposition, across the country something that
has brought on board the now famous ‘Brown envelop’ phrase.
Far from the two strategies, the duo has of late
embarked on a third strategy that will see not only those who support them
under one umbrella, but also win a 25% support across all the 47 counties as
required by the law. To achieve this, they first embarked on a journey that saw
all the smaller parties merge into the now newly registered Jubilee party.
On a lighter note, the merger did not broaden
its support base as purported but rather just locked a few leaders in their
den. Take an example of UDF that saw almost all its elected and nominated
members move to other parties other than Jubilee after it closed shop, Tip Tip
only saw Kalembe Ndile join Jubilee same as Balala’s Republican congress party
etc.
However, Jubilee has another card under the
table. In areas like western and part of the coast region where it
couldn't buy leaders directly, it told its moles to go independent while also
buying surrogate parties. For instance, the surrogate parties in western
include LPK now under Ababus leadership, PPK under governor Akaranga leadership
and Economic Freedom party. At the Coast it's Shirikidho and KADU-Asili while
in Ukambani it’s the well-known Chap Chap Party under governor Mutua. These
regions are considered opposition strong holds and selling a Jubilee candidate
is assumed to be close to selling pork in a mosque.
It is also clear that most of those who pretend
to be independent are in Jubilee. With these cards on the table, Jubilee
believes that it can get some numbers in these regions to top up what they
believe to be under lock and key in their strongholds. And one thing is for
sure, they will get some numbers.