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With the clock fast ticking towards the 2022 general election, the two leading presidential aspirants William Ruto and Raila Odinga have upped the ante by planting spies in each other’s camp on a strategic mission to outdo one another.
So vicious is the espionage that both aspirants are cautious even when dealing with their close aides, for they are not sure whether they will be betrayed or are being taped.
For Raila, he has activated his intelligence network assembled while serving as prime minister in the grand coalition government to spy on the DP to get to know ODM members secretly meeting him and also his key financiers and supporters in government planning to sabotage the referendum to change the constitution, something of which the DP is opposed to.
The ODM leader has been pushing for an amendment to the constitution to create more seats at the top so that no tribal chief goes home empty-handed after elections. Those in the know say that Raila believes that changing the constitution to create many positions is the only weapon he has to stop Ruto becoming president. Raila is banking on the 2018 March 9
handshake with Uhuru Kenyatta to marshal support for the initiative to pass through the legislative stages.
He hopes that 24 out of the 47 county governments will approve the bill on the constitutional changes before it is tabled in both houses for ratification.
Uhuru and Raila
Once the bill is approved by a majority of the county assemblies, it shall be introduced in parliament where if supported by a majority of the members of each house, it shall then be submitted to the president for assent in accordance with articles 256 (4) and (5).
But Ruto is all out to ensure the 2022 polls are held under the current constitutional framework which favours him.
According to insiders, Raila has planted sleuths among Ruto campaign team to get informed of what Ruto plans in Uhuru
succession game plan.
The ODM leader is also keen to know Ruto’s 2022 campaign manifesto, his key financiers, county network and composition of his secretariat. For now, Raila is aware that the deputy president finance mobilisation is based at Nairobi’s Upper Hill and the man in charge of fundraising is David Muge.
Muge has been accompanying Ruto during his international trips and was with him in Italy and Uganda when the DP was hosted by the Ugandan strongman Yoweri Museveni. It is said that Muge is deeply involved in Ruto’s 2022
fundraising and frequently contacts parastatal bosses allied to the DP to award tenders to Ruto would-be presidential financiers.
Raila has been concerned with Ruto’s sources of money and secret affairs and plans to expose them at an opportune time.
Insiders well versed with the working of the DP 2022 Focus Team allude that he is aware he is being spied on and has put in place counter strategies to change the matrix.
The DP is increasingly getting jittery of the newfound camaraderie between Uhuru and Raila, for it has enabled the ODM leader to penetrate the intelligence circles to spy on him.
According to insiders, Raila has roped in State House Comptroller Kinuthia Mbugua, former presidential adviser Nancy Gitau, Interior principal secretary Karanja Kibicho and former Gatanga MP David Murathe to use their intelligence networks to spy on Ruto’s
Ruto
movement in and outside the country, and ultimately finish off all those supporting him.
Aware of the scheme, a furious Ruto last week confronted Kibicho at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, accusing him of spying on him and sabotaging his 2022 presidential bid.
Ruto was eventually summoned to State House to explain why he caused drama at JKIA in a near fist fight with Kibicho in what was reported as a case of extreme anger.
Ruto was also angry at Kibicho for issuing orders to top government officials and security personnel to avoid Tanga Tanga campaign events countrywide, and believes the instructions were the brainchild of Raila.
At the airport, top State House officials and Kenya Defence Forces commanders were shocked to see an angry Ruto lecture Kibicho publicly yet they both have offices across the street, a walking distance of three minutes.
The DP and PS were yearmates at the University of Nairobi where Ruto was pursuing Bachelor of Science while Kibicho was studying Mechanical Engineering. Kibicho was born on July 27 1967 while Ruto was born on December 21 1966.
Ruto, according to insiders, is angry mainly because he thinks the PS is frustrating his efforts to make inroads in Mt Kenya region on instructions from Raila.
Two rallies that were arranged by Ruto allies in Murang’a were cancelled in March and April in what was seen as State House flexing its muscles in the region. What State House might not know however is that the grassroots in Central have washed their hands off Uhuru.
David Muge
Insiders aver that Raila spies were instrumental in the removal of pro-Ruto faces at State House on grounds they were spying for the DP and informing him of the president’s daily diary and who to be met.
Raila, according to sources, meets the spies at his houses in Karen, Runda, Nyali, Kwale, Riat and Milimani in Kisumu for secret briefings.
While serving as prime minister between 2007 and 2013, Raila planted spies in most government agencies. He runs a parallel secret spy system and using this elaborate network, he has effectively infiltrated key state institutions
including the police force which falls under the Office of the President, the immigration ministry whose headquarters are at Nyayo House, the Kenya Ports Authority, the Registrar of Companies and Kenya Revenue Authority’s motor vehicle registration department. That Raila is connected in the intelligence network being proved by the fact that he in 2017 during the presidential debate Uhuru skipped revealed that the SGR would end up in someone’s farm in Naivasha.
First to reveal about the spies was US based activist Ombori Monari, who chairs Abagusii community in the diaspora.
He was quoted saying Ruto risks being broke if he continued to work with a section of Mt Kenya politicians.
Monari claimed that Mount Kenya leaders such as Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro, Kiambu governor Ferdinand Waititu, Kikuyu MP Kimani Ichungwa, Nakuru senator Susan Kihika, Nyandarua woman representative Catherine Waiguru, among others, sometimes make secret calls to Raila to inform him what the DP is planning.
Susan Kihika
Monari, a close ally of Raila, claimed Ruto should consider dumping Mt Kenya politicians to avoid a situation where he would be declared bankrupt like former presidential candidate Cyrus Jirongo.
According to him, Mt Kenya politicians are spying on Ruto and often meet to discuss the unfolding events.
Indeed, Ruto’s camp is experiencing turmoil as a number of his foot soldiers in various parts of the country have either decided to jump ship or take the middle ground for fear of a backlash.
In fact, it is said that Raila using his handshake connections, is behind the current use of intimidation politics against Ruto strong supporters to have him isolated and deserted ahead of 2022.
The current political formation in pro Ruto’s own Rift Valley backyard where several politicians have either bolted out of his camp or taken a low profile, citing frustrations from his henchmen is part of Raila strategy.
Insiders aver that it is Raila spies who gathered information on how Ruto’s team was considering frustrating government operations in parliament in retaliation for the handshake.
He used the idea to further widen Uhuru, Ruto rift.
Ruto’s group was considering shooting down important government bills and paralyse important sittings by killing a quorum as well as snubbing committee sessions during considerations of government business.
This explains why minority leader in the national assembly John Mbadi came out to say his side will neutralise the boycotting team by rallying behind the state agenda. Talk of Ruto plan to impeach Uhuru and land then presidency was then rife.
Insiders attest that it is Raila spies who unearthed how Ruto was planning to use the Law Society of Kenya elections for the male representative in the Judicial Service Commission to control the Judiciary.
The deputy president was secretly bankrolling the lavish campaign of Tom Ojienda.
But when Raila relayed the news of Ruto’s plan to the president, state machinery was put in place to ensure former IPOA chairman Njeru Macharia clinched the seat.
Macharia’s victory with 2,738 votes was widely interpreted as a defeat for Ruto who bankrolled Ojienda who garnered 2,545 votes.
Macharia Njeru
Despite last minute lobbying where millions of shillings exchanged hands in order influence swing votes in favour of Ojienda, the majority of the membership remained convinced Ojienda was not the right representative for their organisation given his affiliation to contentious political figures in the country.
His loss is a big blow to pro-Ruto forces that were positioning to influence appointments to top judiciary benches at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Insiders state that Raila is also aware a section of his allies have been leaking ODM strategies to Ruto. He suspiciously views Gladys Wanga, Homa Bay women rep and Siaya senator James Orengo. Orengo was in charge of the campaigns of ODM’s Chris Karan and helped Ruto land his first parliamentary seat in Raila home county of Siaya.
After the Ugenya polls, a furious Raila demanded answers to the loss of the Ugenya by-election by ODM. Nevertheless, the ODM supremo is aware that Ruto is a formidable force to reckon with come 2022 owing to his elaborate well oiled network.
On the other hand, Orengo is increasingly desperate to position himself as a front runner in the Raila succession battle in Luo
Nyanza and Ruto has assured him of support toward this endeavour specifically to finance his campaign to win the Siaya gubernatorial seat. Indeed, where Ruto beats Raila in the espionage game is in his generosity. It is said that it is easier for Ruto to get Raila secrets than for Raila to get Ruto secrets because whereas Ruto pays his spies handsomely, Raila on the other hand expects his spies to leave him an envelope instead.
Raila is also aware of the fact that Ruto has assembled an array of renowned American and British strategists to map out an elaborate campaign game plan ahead of 2022.
In March this year, four Americans believed to be part of the DP’s political strategy team perished when a chopper captained by his pilot crashed in Turkana. It is worth noting that Ruto was quick to refute claims that the Americans were associated with his 2022 plans.
The US Embassy in Nairobi was noncommittal on what the four were doing in Kenya then.
The fallen political consultants were associated with Campaign Services Group that boasts of having run three presidential campaigns, a dozen-plus US Senate campaigns and congressional campaigns.
Their services partly include drawing (and writing) campaign plans, writing voter contact plans and data management, working in partnership with their clients to craft unique, individualised strategies “that are creative, aggressive, responsive and effective”.
Ruto may as well have tested the fruits of using the services of foreign consultants, having successfully run high profile campaigns alongside Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013 and 2017, with the help of Cambridge Analytica, a US data mining concern accused of manipulating elections.
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