How BBI muddles Uhuru, Ruto schemes

Friday morning, March 9, 2018: Deputy President William Ruto was out of town — and his boss, Uhuru Kenyatta was just about to make a political move at Harambee House that would change national politics.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga was also to make a move that would scatter his National Super Alliance coalition that had brought together two former vice presidents — Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi — and former foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula.

It was an alliance that had twice catapulted him to the edge of clinching the presidency.

For months, and after a controversial 2017 presidential election, tension had been building around the country culminating in a whole-day scuffle between Mr Odinga’s supporters and security as the latter returned from a 10-day trip abroad.

He was shot at, tear-gassed and his supporters pursued from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport through Jogoo Road.

NATIONAL INTEREST

Amidst that poisoned and charged atmosphere, nobody foretold the shifting of the ground — and when it happened, on the morning of March 9, it caught everyone, including the president’s inner circle, by surprise.

Accompanying Mr Odinga, and at the periphery of the Harambee House was his confidante Suna East MP Junet Mohamed and Raila’s daughter Winnie.

Interestingly, Mr Kenyatta had left out Deputy President Ruto, the man who had been touted as his natural successor.

Outside Harambee House, the President seemed to walk away from the campaign promises on his succession.

“Democracy is not, as has often been said, an end in itself. It is just a process by which the will of the people is heard. But the national good, the national interest must always prevail over those elections,” he said.

By invoking “national interest”, the President seemed to be pushing the nation-State towards what political scientists call “self-preservation”, where security and the well-being of citizens is considered cardinal.

GREED

But coming at the last stretch of the Kenyatta presidency, the recommendations of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) will certainly be mixed with DP Ruto’s first bid for presidency.

Already, Dr Ruto has been warning the BBI proponents — meaning Raila Odinga — against using the same to advance their career.

“We are in a democratic society and the proposals by BBI will be subjected to an open national conversation where every voice will be heard. Those working hard to create new fault lines will not succeed,” he said during a tour of Elgeyo Marakwet mid this month.

But the big question will be whether he will be able to run an anti-BBI campaign while still within the government.

The DP is a sleek politician who has polished his political game. During the 2010 Constitution referendum, he stood alone, against Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga together with mainstream churches, to oppose the draft and managed to get 31.4 per cent of votes.

Whether he can marshal the same strength and use direct engagement with churches and grassroots groups remains to be seen.

ADMINISTRATIVE STATE

According to insiders, President Kenyatta’s and part of his inner circle’s, the plan is to craft an administrative state where politics, and politicians, play a secondary role.

“The initial state had been hijacked and this resulted in mistrust, exclusion and capture of state institutions by sectarian interests,” a source familiar with the ongoing restructuring says.

“Because of that, certain communities felt marginalised and excluded by the State and this is why the BBI is an important project if it can rectify the mistakes of yesteryears (sic).”

Part of the thinking within the BBI, insiders say, was to seek a formula on ending divisive politics by modifying the government structure.

While insiders view this as a Herculean task, President Kenyatta has been slowly changing the bowels of the nation state and bringing in disciplined forces and intelligence officers to man key national institutions.

“This is deliberate. These people are regimental and their loyalty is to the State. Again, BBI is not only a political project, it is going to be an administrative one,” says a source.

MATIANG'I ROLE

Some of the changes envisioned by BBI are already being put in place. This is what saw Dr Fred Matiang’i elevated to become the chairman of the National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee.

In this new position, Dr Matiang’i chairs meetings that bring together all Cabinet secretaries, Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki, and Head of Civil Service Joseph Kinyua.

Interestingly, this committee reports directly to the President (not presidency), which means that the DP, who has been waging a campaign against Mr Odinga ever since the BBI was launched, could be an isolated man.

The next dramatic change was the naming of Ukur Yattani as the Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Treasury.

It was the first time since independence that a former provincial administrator had been put at the helm of the Treasury. “His appointment meant that the crafting of the administrative structure was now complete,” said a source.

How other politicians will fit within this game plan will be interesting to watch. At the moment, the Deputy President has an upper hand in the control of politics while President Kenyatta is busy building an administrative state.