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.
