But even as Uhuru made appointments with eyes on 2017, the Kisii region remains the trickiest for Jubilee. Analysts say Kisii region gave Uhuru the 25pc in 2013 and will again provide a swing vote and is now the most sensitive region if Uhuru is to comfortably win the 2017 elections.
Prior to the shuffle, Kisii MPs allied to Jubilee had been asked to table names to be included in the cabinet. Sources say they gave names and signed as a group but shockingly Uhuru never considered the names they had proposed. They are now unhappy for having been taken for granted yet they are the elected leaders who are expected to sell Uhuru in 2017 but he chose to blatantly ignore their advice.
The transfer of ICT CS Fred Matiang’i to the powerful Education portfolio has been met with joy and condemnation in equal measure. Sources say by appointing Matiang’i to education was meant to make matters easy for Jubilee as far as handling teachers’ issues and strikes are concerned since his brother John Matiang’i is the Knut national treasurer. The game plan here is to have a friendly minister to handle Knut but whether it will yield fruits, only time will tell.
In terms of politics and the appointments, Ford- People being a predominant party in the region almost lost grip but made a comeback in subsequent by-elections meaning the Abagusii people had realised that they all needed to vote for one of their own if they were to get a cake of Uhuru’s government. Uhuru has of late made inroads in the region and courted the Kisii council of elders who have warmed up to him.
But following the appointment of Susan Mochache who is a junior officer at the Communications Authority of Kenya on advice by Matiang’i and who is earmarked for Social Security and Services docket, investigations reveal that her nomination has been rejected by the Abagusii community and that there is a near unanimous chorus of condemnation emanating from all the political quarters.
Mochache’s name in Uhuru’s new list according to sources will not add any value to his political scheme with the Abagusii community in 2017 since she is hardly known in Kisii and furthermore married outside Kisii. Sources say she is married to a Luhya and they live in Trans Nzoia.
The negative voices from Kisii are wondering why Uhuru did not take advantage of this shuffle to bring on board somebody well known by the political establishment in Kisii region who would further enhance the warm blood that the Abagusii now have towards Uhuru and Jubilee instead of giving such a powerful position to unknown woman married to another region.
Back at home, Matiang’i has not done much to sell Jubilee and Uhuru among the Abagusii. Kenyans will remember when some school children were killed in a road accident, Matiang’i was not allowed to read Uhuru’s condolence message at Ksii stadium where shouts and banana peels were hurled at him.
It would have been expected that the CS would go back to the drawing board and plead with his people to know why they were hostile to Uhuru message. Instead, he mocked them that he was not answerable to them but to Uhuru. As a result, he has been a single most repulsive element in wooing the community to Jubilee.
It is said that although Uhuru seems to rely on him, he has no capacity neither has he tried to help Jubilee either underground or above ground and is being seen as a proud man who only appears
at church functions allegedly to show off.
Sources say Abagusii political class are wondering why Matiang’i advised Uhuru to pick Mochache to represent Gusii region and now say it is a clear testimony that he is burying Uhuru in Kisii.
Before the shuffle, rumours were all around that ODM was crumbling in Kisii with some ODM leaders silently working towards joining Jubilee ahead of 2017. Ruto has of late clearly made inroads in Kisii through deputy governor Joash Maangi and had even been rumuored that he was to join the cabinet and now that has failed, and with 2017 fast approaching, it now appears that in Kisii, everybody is now plotting on how to put his house in order.
