Prepare for ‘President Raila’, Murathe now says

Jubilee Party Vice Chairman David Murathe with Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and his Chama Cha Mashinani counter Isaac Ruto at Jubilee headquarters in Nairobi on June 17. [File, Standard]

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s ally and Jubilee Vice Chairman David Murathe has put the country on notice of a 2022 “Mandela Moment” for Kenya.

In an exclusive interview with KTN last evening, Murathe said it is time to reward ODM leader Raila Odinga for all his struggles and sacrifices for the country’s democratic growth and progress.

Raila would then be a one-term transitional president who will clear the way for generation change in Kenya’s political order. Murathe is listed among the eight men shaping President Uhuru Kenyatta succession politics.

“We think it’s time Kenyans rewarded the years of struggle of Raila Amollo Odinga. They owe it to him. It’s like Mandela, and 2022 will be a Mandela Moment. And we would also like to tell him (Raila) to be a transitional president who will then nurture the young generation to take over in 2027,” he said.

Forgone conclusion

According to him, it should by now be a forgone conclusion that Raila will be on the ballot.

“What I can confirm is that in 2022, we will have a poster. And in that poster there will be a portrait of the Handshake. Assuming we go by the formation unveiled at Bomas, we will probably have a prime minister coming from Mount Kenya. You may have a deputy prime minister coming from Coast and the other possibly from the Rift Valley,” he said.

Murathe asked former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka to make way for Raila’s final bullet.

“Untill he (Kalonzo) moves from the Nasa coalition, what we are doing is co-operating. Just like we are co-operating with ODM. I don’t know what the arrangement is on the Nasa side but if you ask me I would like him (Kalonzo) to also let Raila run,” he said.

Besides Murathe, other men shaping the president’s agenda in his last two years are his trusted Cabinet Secretaries Ukur Yatani (Treasury), James Macharia (Transport), Peter Munya (Agriculture), Fred Matiang’i (Interior) and Mutahi Kagwe (Health).

In the political sphere include Murathe, Raila, Baringo Senator Gideon Moi and MPs Amos Kimunya, Samuel Poghisio and Irungu Kang’ata.

At the technical sphere, and as part of the concerted efforts to hasten government operations with 730 days to go, President Kenyatta reorganised his government in a move that thrust Yatani to the new rank of his Mr-Fix it team.

In his reorganisation of government, the National Treasury CS will add to his portfolio the control of over a trillion-shilling worth of a State agency in the cargo transportation sector, including Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) and Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).

Influence

The parastatals will operate under the Kenya Transport and Logistics Network (KTLN) as a holding company formed on Friday by President Kenyatta through an Executive Order. It will be managed by the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) and a government-owned financial institution.

By moving rail, pipeline and port into the Treasury, Yatani’s influence has been magnified and the CS becomes one of the people the president will often consult. By virtue of his docket at the Treasury, its strategic importance and sensitivity, Yatani must interact with the president on a day-to-day basis.

Uhuru has identified the Big Four agenda and uniting Kenyans as some of the key items he believes once achieved will influence way Kenyans will remember his 10-year stint as Kenya’s third president.

In overseeing the ministries and their performances – a responsibility he got mid last year – Dr Matiang’i has been given the prefect position. Since then, he has had weekly meetings with his Cabinet colleagues, taking stock of what they are doing and realigning their focus to Uhuru’s agenda.